The War of Art

by Steven Pressfield

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

The danger is greatest when the finish line is in sight.

The best and only thing that one artist can do for another is to serve as an example and an inspiration.

We don't just put off our lives today; we put them off till our deathbed.

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

Anything that draws attention to ourselves through pain-free or artificial means is a manifestation of Resistance.

A victim act is a form of passive aggression. It seeks to achieve gratification not by honest work or a contribution made out of one's experience or insight or love, but by the manipulation of others through silent (and not-so-silent) threat.

The artist is grounded in freedom. He is not afraid of it. He is lucky. He was born in the right place. He has a core of self- confidence, of hope for the future. He believes in progress and evolution. His faith is that humankind is advancing, however haltingly and imperfectly, toward a better world.

Fundamentalism is the philosophy of the powerless, the conquered, the displaced and the dispossessed. Its spawning ground is the wreckage of political and military defeat, as Hebrew fundamentalism arose during the Babylonian captivity, as white Christian fundamentalism appeared in the American South during Reconstruction, as the notion of the Master Race evolved in Germany following World War I.

Fundamentalism and art are mutually exclusive. There is no such thing as fundamentalist art.

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

Individuals who are realized in their own lives almost never criticize others. If they speak at all, it is to offer encouragement. Watch yourself.

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

So if you're paralyzed with fear, it's a good sign. It shows you what you have to do.

Resistance knows that the more psychic energy we expend dredging and re-dredging the tired, boring injustices of our personal lives, the less juice we have to do our work.

The years have taught me one skill: how to be miserable. I know how to shut up and keep humping. This is a great asset because it's human, the proper role for a mortal. It does not offend the gods, but elicits their intercession.

The artist wears combat boots.

The professional arms himself with patience, not only to give the stars time to align in his career, but to keep himself from flaming out in each individual work.

The field is level, the professional understands, only in heaven.

The critic hates most that which he would have done himself if he had had the guts.

There's no mystery to turning pro. It's a decision brought about by an act of will. We make up our minds to view ourselves as pros and we do it. Simple as that.

Could our unlived lives have exacted their vengeance upon us in the form of cancer?

And if they did, can we cure ourselves, now, by living these lives out?

We know that if we embrace our ideals, we must prove worthy of them. And that scares the hell out of us.

Yeah, we lose friends. But we find friends too, in places we never thought to look. And they're better friends, truer friends. And we're better and truer to them.

We come into this world with a specific, personal destiny. We have a job to do, a calling to enact, a self to become. We are who we are from the cradle, and we're stuck with it. Our job in this lifetime is not to shape ourselves into some ideal we imagine we ought to be, but to find out who we already are and become it.

A hack, he says, is a writer who second-guesses his audience.

A territory doesn't give, it gives back.

What do I feel growing inside me? Let me bring that forth, if I can, for its own sake and not for what it can do for me or how it can advance my standing.

Contempt for failure is our cardinal virtue.

We must do our work for its own sake, not for fortune or attention or applause.

Give the act to me. Purged of hope and ego, Fix your attention on the soul. Act and do for me. The work comes from heaven anyway. Why not give it back?

Creative work is not a selfish act or a bid for attention on the part of the actor. It's a gift to the world and every being in it. Don't cheat us of your contribution. Give us what you've got.