The War of Art

by Steven Pressfield

When I start making typos, I know I'm getting tired. That's four hours or so. I've hit the point of diminishing returns. I wrap for the day.

How many pages have I produced? I don't care. Are they any good? I don't even think about it. All that matters is I've put in my time and hit it with all I've got.

It's not the writing part that's hard. What's hard is sitting down to write.

Resistance is the most toxic force on the planet.

Resistance is faster than a speeding bullet,

You think Resistance isn't real? Resistance will bury you.

The enemy is a very good teacher. — the Dalai Lama

Any activity whose aim is tighter abdominals.

Education of every kind.

In other words, any act that rejects immediate gratification in favor of long-term growth, health, or integrity.

Resistance cannot be seen, touched, heard, or smelled. But it can be felt. We experience it as an energy field radiating from a work-in-potential. It's a repelling force. It's negative. Its aim is to shove us away, distract us, prevent us from doing our work.

Resistance seems to come from outside ourselves.

The warrior and the artist live by the same code of necessity, which dictates that the battle must be fought anew every day.

The highest treason a crab can commit is to make a leap for the rim of the bucket.

The awakening artist must be ruthless, not only with herself but with others.

There never was a moment, and never will be, when we are without the power to alter our destiny.

Why put in years of work designing a new software interface when you can get just as much attention by bringing home a boyfriend with a prison record?

Instead of applying self-knowledge, self-discipline, delayed gratification and hard work, we simply consume a product.

Sometimes the hardest part of a medical job is keeping a straight face.

shouldn't be exposing these concepts of Resistance literally and overtly; rather, I should incorporate them metaphorically into a novel. That's a pretty damn subtle and convincing argument.

The counterfeit innovator is wildly self-confident. The real one is scared to death.

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.

The opposite of love isn't hate; it's indifference.

has to plug into some internal perplexity or passion that is of paramount importance to us.

That problem becomes the theme of our work, even if we can't at the start understand or articulate it.

These characters might not be interesting to anyone else but they're absolutely fascinating to us. They are us. Meaner, smarter, sexier versions of ourselves. It's fun to be with them because they're wr...

What counted was that I had, after years of running from it, actually sat down and done my work.

It's one thing to lie to ourselves. It's another thing to believe it.

The moment an artist turns pro is as epochal as the birth of his first child.

mean the Professional as an ideal. The professional in contrast

The amateur plays for fun. The professional plays for keeps.

We show up every day.

We show up no matter what.

We stay on the job all day.

We are committed over the long haul.

The stakes for us are high and real.

We accept remuneration for our labor.

We do not overidentify with our jobs.

The seeming detachment of the professional, the cold-blooded character to his demeanor, is a compensating device to keep him from loving the game so much that he freezes in action.

To the gods the supreme sin is not rape or murder, but pride.

He knows that any job, whether it's a novel or a kitchen remodel, takes twice as long as he thinks and costs twice as much.

A pro views her work as craft, not art.

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.

Just as Resistance has its seat in hell, so Creation has its home in heaven.