The most important thing about art is to work. Nothing else matters except sitting down every day and trying. Steven Pressfield More Quotes by Steven Pressfield More Quotes From Steven Pressfield Artists are modest. They know they're not doing the work; they're just taking dictation. Steven Pressfield modest artist knows What force is yanking at our sleeves? This process of self-revision and self-correction is so common we don't even notice. But it's a miracle. Steven Pressfield revision miracle self Playing for money, or adopting the attitude of one who plays for money, lowers the fever. Steven Pressfield money play attitude When we sit down to work, we become like a magnetized rod that attracts iron filings. Ideas come. Insights accrete. Steven Pressfield iron insight ideas The artist and the fundamentalist both confront the same issue, the mystery of their existence as individuals. Steven Pressfield issues mystery artist Thr principle of organization is built into nature. Chaos itself is self-organizing. Out of primordial disorder, stars find their orbit; rivers make their way to the sea. Steven Pressfield stars organization sea This is the other secret that real artists know and wannabe writers don’t. When we sit down each day and do our work, power concentrates around us. The Muse takes note of our dedication. She approves. We have earned favor in her sight. When we sit down and work, we become like a magnetized rod that attracts iron filings. Ideas come. Insights accrete. Steven Pressfield dedication artist real We cannot let external criticism, even if it's true, fortify our internal foe. That foe is strong enough already. Steven Pressfield enough-already strong criticism The problem I've always discovered in my own work when this kind of thing happens when you hit the wall is there's almost always a reason. You've almost always made a mistake in the initial conception of the project. You misapprehended something or you thought something would work and now you're three quarters on the way through and you see that it doesn't work. Steven Pressfield wall mistake way There's a phrase you hear in Israel: "We're not Jews, we're Israelis." What that means is that the stereotype we're familiar with here in the States of the Diaspora Jew, i.e. Jews in America or Europe or Russia, etc. does not fit at all with the reality of the homegrown "sabras" of Israel. Steven Pressfield mean reality america I had always been an enthusiastic reader of stuff about ancient Greece. I would read Herodotus and Thucydides just for fun. Steven Pressfield ancient stuff fun Resistance really takes the shape, for me, in voices in my head telling me why I can't do something or why I should put it off for another day, procrastinate for another day. Steven Pressfield resistance voice shapes I love memoirs, particularly obscure ones because the writer is usually a regular guy just telling what happened to him and to his friends. What these tales lack in artfulness they make up for in passion and authenticity. For a writer of fiction, they are solid gold. I have stolen so much from memoirs it's ridiculous. Steven Pressfield passion guy gold One thing I've found in any project is almost universally about three quarters of the way through - or maybe a little father, maybe seventh eighths on the way through - any project will explode. Steven Pressfield three littles father When you're a working writer, sooner or later friends and acquaintances will get you alone and confide that they, too, have a book in them. Steven Pressfield sooner-or-later acquaintance book The great thing about writing about the ancient Spartans or Athenians is that so much knowledge is no longer extant that no one, except maybe a Cambridge or Oxford don, can call you out and prove you wrong. Steven Pressfield ancient oxford writing Art is a war - between ourselves and the forces of self-sabotage that would stop us from doing our work. The artist is a warrior. Steven Pressfield self war art Traditional publishers will be dominant, and they should be because they really do assure quality. But eBooks, which are huge already, are going to eclipse everything. They will save traditional publishing the way DVDs saved movie studios (for a while) and they'll greatly expand the number of readers. Steven Pressfield dvds quality numbers Reading is alive and well and will get more alive and more well. Reading on tablets (or whatever the next tech device will be) is the future - and the future is now. Steven Pressfield tablets alive reading Right now with blogs and the flood of internet access, a multitude of aspiring writers think they're ready for prime time. They're not. Be great. Read. Write. Bust your ass. Learn and find your voice. As hard as you think it is, it's a hundred times harder. Steven Pressfield voice writing thinking
