Quote

The last element in drama is high stakes. War, of course, is life and death - survival, not only for the story's characters, but often for the society itself. That's why I'm drawn to stories that are built around wars, even if they're not technically war stories.

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
Even
Lasts
Elements
Technically
Life
Last
Characters
Stakes
War
Built
Often
Courses
Drawn
Death
Course
Element
Around
High
Wars
Stories
Story
Survival
Character
Society
Drama

More quotes by Steven Pressfield

Image
Resistance by definition is self-sabotage.
Steven Pressfield
Image
Our job in this lifetime is not to shape ourselves into some ideal we imagine we ought to be, but to find out who we already are and become it.
Steven Pressfield
Image
The sign of the amateur is overglorification of and preoccupation with the mystery. The professional shuts up. She doesn't talk about it. She does her work.
Steven Pressfield
Image
The last thing we want is to remain as we are.
Steven Pressfield
Image
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
Image
What finally convinced me to go ahead was simply that I was so unhappy not going ahead.
Steven Pressfield
Image
The awakening an artist must be ruthless, not only with herself but with others.
Steven Pressfield
Image
Anything that draws attention to ourselves through pain-free or artificial means is a manifestation of Resistance.
Steven Pressfield
Image
Making a judgment, taking a stand and then acting against an injustice or acting to support excellence is the stuff of the everyman hero. If you are an aspiring artist and you wish to avoid “judgments,” you'll find that you have nothing to say.
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
Image
Of any activity you do, ask yourself: If I were the last person on earth, would I still do it?
Steven Pressfield
Image
Be too dumb to quit and too stubborn to back off.
Steven Pressfield
Image
Resistance cannot be seen, touched, heard, or smelled. But it can be felt.
Steven Pressfield
Image
Rule of thumb: The more important a call or action is to our soul's evolution, the Resistance we will feel toward pursuing it.
Steven Pressfield
Image
We cannot let external criticism, even if it's true, fortify our internal foe. That foe is strong enough already.
Steven Pressfield
Image
Always attack. Even in defense, attack. The attacking arm possesses the initiative and thus commands the action. To attack makes men brave to defend makes them timorous.
Steven Pressfield
Image
Fear doesn't go away. The battle must be fought anew every day.
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
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.
Steven Pressfield
Image
Resistance cannot be seen, touched, heard, or smelled. But it can be felt. We experince it as an energy field radiating from a work-in-potential... Its aim is to shove us away, distract us, prevent us from doing our work.
Steven Pressfield