Quote

The artist and the fundamentalist both confront the same issue, the mystery of their existence as individuals.

Steven Pressfield

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Steven Pressfield
Age: 81
Born: 1943
Born: September 1
Author
Novelist
Screenwriter
Writer
Port-of-Spain
Individuals
Issue
Mystery
Issues
Existence
Individual
Artist
Fundamentalist
Confront

More quotes by Steven Pressfield

Image
If you find yourself asking yourself (and your friends), Am I really a writer? Am I really an artist? chances are you are. The counterfeit innovator is wildly self-confident. The real one is scared to death.
Steven Pressfield
Image
When a novelist or screenwriter is looking for a subject, the element he's seeking is conflict. Conflict makes drama. Conflict produces great characters and memorable scenes. So war is a natural topic.
Steven Pressfield
Image
When we are succeeding - that is, when we have begun to overcome our self-doubt and self-sabotage, when we are advancing in our craft and evolving to a higher level - that's when panic strikes. When we experience panic, it means that we're about to cross a threshold. We're poised on the doorstep of a higher plane.
Steven Pressfield
Image
A cavalryman's horse should be smarter than he is. But the horse must never be alowed to know this.
Steven Pressfield
Image
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
Image
It's one thing to lie to ourselves. It's another thing to believe it.
Steven Pressfield
Image
The critic hates most that which he would have done himself if he had had the guts.
Steven Pressfield
Image
The difference between an amateur and a professional is in their habits. An amateur has amateur habits. A professional has professional habits. We can never free ourselves from habit. But we can replace bad habits with good ones.
Steven Pressfield
Image
On the field of The Self stand a knight and a dragon. You are the knight. Resistance is the dragon.
Steven Pressfield
Image
As all born teachers, he was primarily a student.
Steven Pressfield
Image
The opposite of fear is love - love of the challenge, love of the work, the pure joyous passion to take a shot at our dream and see if we can pull it off.
Steven Pressfield
Image
Long-term, we must begin to build our internal strengths. It isn't just skills like computer technology. It's the old-fashioned basics of self-reliance, self-motivation, self-reinforcement, self-discipline, self-command.
Steven Pressfield
Image
Slay that dragon once, and he will never have power over you again.
Steven Pressfield
Image
A great trick that I learned having worked as a screenwriter for many years, the way screenwriters work, is they break the project down into three-act structure: Act 1, Act 2, Act 3. I think that is a great way to break down any project, whether it's a new business or anything at all.
Steven Pressfield
Image
Start before you’re ready.
Steven Pressfield
Image
Resistance is not a peripheral opponent. Resistance arises from within. It is self-generated and self-perpetuated. resistance is the enemy within.
Steven Pressfield
Image
Every sun casts a shadow, and genius's shadow is Resistance.
Steven Pressfield
Image
Turning pro is a mindset. If we are struggling with fear, self-sabotage, procrastination, self-doubt, etc., the problem is, we’re thinking like amateurs. Amateurs don’t show up. Amateurs crap out. Amateurs let adversity defeat them. The pro thinks differently. He shows up, he does his work, he keeps on truckin’, no matter what.
Steven Pressfield
Image
The amateur believes he must first overcome his fear then he can do his work. The professional knows that fear can never be overcome. He knows there is no such thing as a fearless warrior or a dread-free artist.
Steven Pressfield
Image
There's a secret that real writers know that wannabe writers don't, and the secret is this: It's not the writing part that's hard. What's hard is sitting down to write. What keeps us from sitting down is Resistance.
Steven Pressfield