17 Quotes from Steven Pressfield’s “The War of Art”

Subject: The War of Art Steven Pressfield Quotes

Location: Orlando, Florida

Millions of life's have been changed when they read Steven Pressfield's book. 

It's a rare type of book. It discusses Resistance. Our inner Enemy. The part of us that will stop at NOTHING in order to sabotage our potential.

Every single human on earth deals with this. 

Steven shines a giant flashlight on this force. Discussing the types of forms it takes.

Worry. Procrastination. Fear. Impulse. Addiction. Doubt. 

All form of self-sabotage. 

To put it in perspective. It's been #1 on the Amazon Best Seller list for 15+ years. You can find it here. (I don't get a cut from this).  

Any book that has stood the test of time is worth looking into. 

Here are my favorite of quotes from book 1 'Resistance and Defeating the Enemy'. The book has two more parts regarding turning Pro and our association with the Higher Worlds. We will break those down over the coming months. 

This book changed my life. It's extremely easy to ready and profound. 

Enjoy these words from a master.

1. "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. All that counts is that, for this day, for this session, I have overcome Resistance."

2."Most of us have two lives. The life we live, and the unlived life within us. Between the two stands Resistance."

3. "If you believe in God (and I do) you must declare Resistance evil, for it prevents us from achieving the life God intended when He endowed each of us with our own unique genius."

4."Every sun casts a shadow, and genius's shadow is Resistance. As powerful as is our soul's call to realization, so potent are the forces of Resistance arrayed against it."

5."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 before, 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."

6. "In other words, any act that rejects immediate gratification in favor of long-term growth, health or integrity. Or, expressed another way, any act that derives from our higher nature instead of our lower. Any of these will elicit Resistance."

7."If you take Resistance at its word, you deserve everything you get. Resistance is always lying and always full of shit."

8. "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."

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

8. "So if you're in Calcutta working with the Mother Teresa Foundation and you're thinking of bolting to launch a career in telemarketing...relax. Resistance will give you a free pass."

9. "Procrastination is the most common manifestation of Resistance because it's the easiest to rationalize. We don't tell ourselves, "I'm never going to write my symphony." Instead we say, "I am going to write my symphony; I'm just going to start tomorrow."

10. "Never forget: this very moment, we can change our lives. There never was a moment, and never will be, when we are without the power to alter our destiny. This second, we can turn the tables on Resistance."

11. "As artists and professionals it is our obligation to enact our own internal revolution, a private insurrection inside our own skulls. In this uprising we free ourselves from the tyranny of consumer culture."

12. "If you find yourself criticizing other people, you're probably doing it out of Resistance. When we see others beginning to live their authentic selves, it drives us crazy if we have not lived out our own."

13."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."

14."Don't get me wrong. I've got nothing against true healing. We all need it. But it has nothing to do with doing our work and it can be a colossal exercise in Resistance. Resistance loves "healing." 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."

15. "Defeating Resistance is like giving birth. It seems absolutely impossible until you remember that women have been pulling it off successfully, with support and without, for fifty million years."

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

17. "Any support we get from persons of flesh and blood is like Monopoly money; it's not legal tender in that sphere where we have to do our work. In fact, the more energy we spend stoking up on support from colleagues and loved ones, the weaker we become and the less capable of handling our business."

18. "The more Resistance you experience, the more important your unmanifested art/project/enterprise is to you-and the more gratification you will feel when you finally do it."

Which one of these quotes really hit home for you?

Take 12 seconds and write in the comments.

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