Quotessence
Home / Authors / Steven Pressfield
Steven Pressfield

Steven Pressfield Quotes

Author

Filter quotes by topic

AllResistanceArtistIfsSelfKnowsCallingArtWritingWorldDoeThinkingBelieveFeelsWarWarriorInspirationRealDestinyImportantWant

Famous Steven Pressfield Quotes

“The more you love your art/ calling/ enterprise, the more important its accomplishment to the evolution of your soul, the more you will fear it and the more Resistance you will experience facing it.”

ArtImportantSoulLove YouEvolutionCallingImportanceResistanceYour SoulAccomplishmentEnterprise
Book:The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles
Create image

“The amateur has a long list of fears. Near the top are two: Solitude and silence. The amateur fears solitude and silence because she needs to avoid, at all costs, the voice inside her head that would point her toward her calling and her destiny. So she seeks distraction. The amateur prizes shallowness and shuns depth. The culture of Twitter and Facebook is paradise for the amateur.”

NeedsLongTwoMotivationalCultureVoiceSilenceDestinyCallingCostSolitudeDepthListsParadisePrizeDistractionSilence IsShallownessTwitter And Facebook
Author:Steven Pressfield
Create image

“Fear is good. Like self-doubt, fear is an indicator. Fear tells us what we have to do. Remember our rule of thumb: The more scared we are of a work or calling, the more sure we can be that we have to do it. Resistance is experienced as fear; the degree of fear equates to the strength of Resistance. Therefore the more fear we feel about a specific enterprise, the more certain we can be that that enterprise is important to us and to the growth of our soul. That's why we feel so much Resistance. If it meant nothing to us, there'd be no Resistance.”

IfsFeelsImportantSoulSelfRememberCertainGrowthDoubtCallingDegreesScaredResistanceEnterpriseThumbsSelf-doubtIndicators
Author:Steven Pressfield
Create image

“The artist committing himself to his calling has volunteered for hell, whether he knows it or not. He will be dining for the duration on a diet of isolation, rejection, self-doubt, despair, ridicule, contempt, and humiliation.”

KnowsSelfArtistHellDoubtCallingDespairDietsRejectionIsolationContemptHumiliationRidiculeDurationDiningSelf-doubt
Book:The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles
Create image

“Ambition, I have come to believe, is the most primal and sacred and fundament of our being. To feel ambition and to act upon it is to embrace the unique calling of our souls. Not to act upon that ambition is to turn our backs on ourselves and on the reason for our existence.”

FeelsBelieveSoulReasonTurnsExistenceCallingAmbitionUniqueSacredEmbracePrimal
Book:Turning Pro: Tap Your Inner Power and Create Your Life's Work
Create image

“Like a magnetized needle floating on a surface of oil, Resistance will unfailingly point to true North--meaning that calling or action it most wants to stop us from doing. We can use this. We can use it as a compass. We can navigate by Resistance, letting it guide us to that calling or action that we must follow before all others. Rule of thumb: The more important a call or action is to our soul's evolution, the more Resistance we will feel toward pursuing it.”

WantFeelsImportantSoulUseActionEvolutionCallingSurfaceOilGuidesResistanceFloatingCompassThumbsNeedlesNavigateTrue North
Book:Do the Work!: Overcome Resistance and get ouf of your own way
Create image

“Sometimes, when we're terrified of embracing our true calling, we'll pursue a shadow calling instead. That shadow career is a metaphor for our real career. Its shape is similar, its contours feel tantalizingly the same. But a shadow career entails no real risk. If we fail at a shadow career, the consequences are meaningless to us. Are you pursuing a shadow career?”

IfsFeelsRealSometimesCareersFailingRiskCallingShapesShadowConsequenceMetaphorPursueMeaninglessTerrified
Author:Steven Pressfield
Create image

“Look in your own heart. Unless I'm crazy, right now a still small voice is piping up, telling you as it has ten thousand times, the calling that is yours and yours alone. You know it. No one has to tell you. And unless I'm crazy, you're no closer to taking action on it than you were yesterday or will be tomorrow. You think Resistance isn't real? Resistance will bury you.”

ThinkingKnowsLooksHeartStillsRealMotivationalActionVoiceCrazyTomorrowCallingRight NowThousandTenYesterdayResistanceTaking ActionSmall Voice
Book:The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles
Create image