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Steven Pressfield Biography

Steven Pressfield

Steven Pressfield (born September 1943) is an American author of historical fiction, non-fiction, and screenplays.

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Steven Pressfield Quotes

Playing for money, or adopting the attitude of one who plays for money, lowers the fever.

Attitude, Money, Play, Plays

The professional, though he accepts money, does his work out of love. He has to love it. Otherwise he wouldn’t devote his life to it of his own free will.

Accepts, Devote, Doe, Free Will, Though, Work Out

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.

Certain, Fear, Growth, Important, Soul, Specific

Have you ever wondered why the slang terms for intoxication are so demolition-oriented? Stoned, smashed, hammered. It's because they're talking about the Ego. It's the Ego that gets blasted, waxed, plastered.

Demolition, Ego, Slang, Talking, Terms, Waxed

You don't need to take a course or buy a product. All you have to do is change your mind.

Buy, Change, Course, Courses, Mind, Needs

A cavalryman's horse should be smarter than he is. But the horse must never be alowed to know this.

Alowed, Horse, Knows, Should, Smarter

Start before you’re ready. Good things happen when we start before we’re ready.

Good, Good Things, Happens, Ready, Start, Things

I wrote in the War of Art that I could divide my life neatly into two parts: before turning pro and after. After is better.

Art, Life, Neatly, Two, War

It can pay off, being a hack. Given the depraved state of American culture, a slick dude can make millions being a hack. But even if you succeed, you lose, because you’ve sold out your Muse, and your Muse is you, the best part of yourself, where your finest and only true work comes from.

American, Culture, Given, Pay, Succeed

When we see others beginning to live their authentic selves, it drives us crazy if we have not lived out our own.

Authentic, Authentic Self, Beginning, Crazy, See, Self

We fear discovering that we are more than we think we are. More than our parents
children
teachers think we are. We fear that we actually possess the talent that our still, small voice tells us. That we actually have the guts, the perseverance, the capacity. We fear that we truly can steer our ship, plant our flag, reach our Promised Land. We fear this because, if it’s true, then we become estranged from all we know. We pass through a membrane. We become monsters and monstrous.

Discovering, Fear, Perseverance, Small, Teacher

The professional dedicates himself to mastering technique not because he believes technique is a substitute for inspiration but because he wants to be in possession of the full arsenal of skills when inspiration does come. The professional is sly. He knows that by toiling beside the front door of technique, he leaves room for genius to enter by the back.

Believe, Believes, Doors, Inspiration, Knows, Toiling

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.

Doubt, Enterprise, Good, Resistance, Self, Soul

A horse must be a bit mad to be a good cavalry mount, and its rider must be completely so.

Horse, Mad, Mount, Rider, Riders

Every sun casts a shadow, and genius's shadow is Resistance.

Genius, Resistance, Shadow, Sun

It may be that the human race is not ready for freedom. The air of liberty may be too rarefied for us to breathe. . . The paradox seems to be, as Socrates demonstrated long ago, that the truly free individual is free only to the extent of his own self-mastery. While those who will not govern themselves are condemned to find masters to govern over them.

Air, Demonstrated, Masters, Race, Self

When you're a working writer, sooner or later friends and acquaintances will get you alone and confide that they, too, have a book in them.

Acquaintance, Book, Friends, Sooner, Sooner Or Later

The great thing about writing about the ancient Spartans or Athenians is that so much knowledge is no longer extant that no one, except maybe a Cambridge or Oxford don, can call you out and prove you wrong.

Ancient, Cambridge, Longer, Oxford, Writing, Wrong

But nothing really clicked for me until I gave up completely on hitting the overlap and just did what I loved, even when I thought nobody else in the world would be interested.

Hitting, Nothing, Thought, World, Would Be

The professional is acutely aware of the intangibles that go into inspiration. Out of respect for them, she lets them work. She grants them their sphere while she concentrates on hers.

Grants, Inspiration, Intangibles, Spheres, Work

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