{"author":"Steven Pressfield","author_id":"Steven+Pressfield","total_quotes":72,"quotes":[{"text":"No matter how great a writer, artist, or entrepreneur, he is a mortal, he is fallible. He is not proof against Resistance. He will drop the ball; he will crash. That’s why they call it rewriting.","author":"Steven Pressfield","tags":["kindlehighlight"],"id":935,"author_id":"Steven+Pressfield"},{"text":"The artist committing himself to his calling has volunteered for hell.","author":"Steven Pressfield","tags":["art","artist","write","writing"],"id":5458,"author_id":"Steven+Pressfield"},{"text":"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.","author":"Steven Pressfield","tags":["art","writing-life"],"id":9719,"author_id":"Steven+Pressfield"},{"text":"He who whets his steel, whets his courage.","author":"Steven Pressfield","tags":["historical-fiction","pressfield","thermopylae","war"],"id":14494,"author_id":"Steven+Pressfield"},{"text":"Fame Imperishable and glory that will never die -- that is what we march for!","author":"Steven Pressfield","tags":["fame","glory"],"id":17512,"author_id":"Steven+Pressfield"},{"text":"I wouldn’t say “art” as much as “virtue,” in the ancient Greek sense of “andreia” – manly action – or “arete,” excellence. In my experience, Resistance kicks in any time we try to move ourselves from a lower plane to a higher. In other words, when we try to align with the better parts of our nature. This move can be creative (art) or physical (athletics) or it can be ethical, moral or spiritual. Have you ever tried to meditate? I have and it kicks my butt every time. Spiritual stuff is hard! But so is making “cold calls” if you’re opening a new business. Somehow the principle is the same. We’re trying to overcome our natural laziness, selfishness, sloppiness, etc. So I wouldn’t say “art,” I’d say “virtue.","author":"Steven Pressfield","tags":["distractions","focus","getting-results","resistance","writing"],"id":26931,"author_id":"Steven+Pressfield"},{"text":"A cavalryman's horse should be smarter than he is. But the horse must never be alowed to know this.","author":"Steven Pressfield","tags":["army","horse","humor"],"id":41308,"author_id":"Steven+Pressfield"},{"text":"Start before you're ready.","author":"Steven Pressfield","tags":["inspirational","self-help"],"id":50307,"author_id":"Steven+Pressfield"},{"text":"In my younger days dodging the draft, I somehow wound up in the Marine Corps. There's a myth that Marine training turns baby-faced recruits into bloodthirsty killers. Trust me, the Marine Corps is not that efficient. What it does teach, however, is a lot more useful.The Marine Corps teaches you how to be miserable.This is invaluable for an artist.Marines love to be miserable. Marines derive a perverse satisfaction in having colder chow, crappier equipment, and higher casualty rates than any outfit of dogfaces, swab jockeys, or flyboys, all of whom they despise. Why? Because these candy-asses don't know how to be miserable.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.The artist must be like that Marine. He has to know how to be miserable. He has to love being miserable. He has to take pride in being more miserable than any soldier or swabbie or jet jockey. Because this is war, baby. And war is hell.'Page 68.","author":"Steven Pressfield","tags":["art","artist","creative-block","focus","marine","perseverance","writers-block"],"id":64475,"author_id":"Steven+Pressfield"},{"text":"A horse must be a bit mad to be a good cavalry mount, and its rider must be completely so.","author":"Steven Pressfield","tags":["alexander-the-great","humor"],"id":75654,"author_id":"Steven+Pressfield"}],"pagination":{"page":1,"page_size":10,"total":72,"pages":8,"next":"?page=2\u0026page_size=10"}}