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

— Steven Pressfield

The drawing is also a reminder that there’s an artist within each of us, and we must encourage that artist to do the work, to make something that matters, regardless of anything else that is going on.

— Steven Pressfield

The enemy is Resistance.

— Steven Pressfield

The hack is like a politician who consults the polls before he takes a position. He's a demagogue. He panders.

— Steven Pressfield

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 dog faces, swabjockies, or flybys, all of whom they despise. Why? Because those candy asses don't know how to be miserable. The artist committing himself to his calling has 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 swabbies, or desk jockey, because this is war, baby, and war is hell.

— Steven Pressfield

The most important thing about art is to work. Nothing else matters except sitting down every day and trying.

— Steven Pressfield

The Muse honors the working stiff.

— Steven Pressfield

The part that needs healing is our personal life. Personal life has nothing to do with work. Besides, what better way of healing than to find our center of self-sovereignty? Isn't that the whole point of healing?

— Steven Pressfield

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. 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. He accepts that. Furthermore, he recognizes it as reality. The professional steels himself at the start of a project, reminding himself it is the Iditarod, not the sixty-yard dash. He conserves his energy. He prepares his mind for the long haul. Furthermore, he sustains himself with the knowledge that if he can just keep those huskies mushing, sooner or later the sled will pull in to Nome.

— Steven Pressfield

The professional has learned that success, like happiness, comes as a by-product of work. The professional concentrates on the work and allows rewards to come or not come, whatever they like.

— Steven Pressfield