Our job in this life 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.

Fame Imperishable and glory that will never die — that is what we march for!

Fear doesn’t go away. The warrior and the artist live by the same code of necessity, which dictates that the battle must be fought anew every day.

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.

Resistance is the most toxic force on the planet.

To yield to Resistance deforms our spirit. It stunts us and makes us less than we are and were born to be.

This man has conquered the world! What have you done?”The philosopher replied without an instant’s hesitation, “I have conquered the need to conquer the world.

To labor in the arts for any reason other than love is prostitution.

Resistance is experienced as fear; the degree of fear equates to the strength of Resistance.

Always attack. Even in defense, attack. The attacking arm possesses theinitiative and thus commands the action. To attack makes men brave; to defendmakes them timorous.

. . . None of us are born as passive generic blobs waiting for the world to stamp its imprint on us. Instead we show up possessing already a highly refined and individuated soul.Another way...

We’re wrong if we think we’re the only ones struggling with Resistance. Everyone who has a body experiences Resistance.

When we drug ourselves to blot out our soul’s call, we are being good Americans and exemplary consumers.

Resistance is not a peripheral opponent. Resistance arises from within. It is self-generated and self-perpetuated. resistance is the enemy within.

A cavalryman’s horse should be smarter than he is. But the horse must never be alowed to know this.

In other words, any act that rejects immediate gratification in favor of long-term grown, health, or integrity. Or, expressed another way, any act that derives from our high nature instead of our lower. Any of...

Resistance is directly proportional to love. If you’re feeling massive Resistance, the good news is that it means there’s tremendous love there too.

When deliberating, think in campaigns and not battles; in wars and notcampaigns; in ultimate conquest and not wars.

The song we’re composing already exists in potential. Our work is to find it.

Resistance will tell you anything to keep you from doing your work.

A writer writes with his genius; an artist paints with hers; everyone who creates operates from this sacramental center.

The most pernicious aspect of procrastination is that it can become a habit. We don’t just put off our lives today; we put them off till our deathbed.Never forget: This very moment, we can change...

A horse must be a bit mad to be a good cavalry mount, and its rider must be completely so.

Lat at nigh have you experienced a vision of the person you might become, the work you could accomplish, the realized being you were mean to be? Are you a writer who doesn’t write, a...

Resistance by definition is self-sabotage.

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.

What is this damn thing about?” Keep refining your understanding of the theme; keep narrowing it down.

Resistance gets us to plunge into a project with an overambitious and unrealistic timetable for its completion.

We’re never alone. As soon as we step outside the campfire glow, our Muse lights on our shoulder like a butterfly. The act of courage calls for infallibly that deeper part of ourselves that supports...

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.

We must do our work for its own sake, not for fortune or attention or applause.

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...

Resistance obstructs movement only from a lower sphere to a higher. It kicks in when we seek to pursue a calling in the arts, launch an innovative enterprise, or evolve to a high station morally,...

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...

A work-in-progress generates its own energy field. You, the artist or entrepreneur, are pouring love into the work; you are suffusing it with passion and intention and hope.

Anything that draws attention to ourselves through pain-free or artificial means is a manifestation of Resistance.

Are you a born writer? Were you put on earth to be a painter, a scientist, an apostle of peace? In the end the question can only be answered by action.Do it or don’t do...

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

Start the next one today.

Resistance is always lying and always full of shit.

We feed it [Resistance] with power by our fear of it. Master that fear and we conquer Resistance.

O Divine Poesy, goddess, daughter of Zeus, sustain for me this song of the various-minded man who, after he had plundered the innermost citadel of hallowed Troy, was made to stay grievously about the coasts...

No matter how great a writer, artist, or entrepreneur, he is a mortal, he is fallible. He is not proof against Resistance. He will drop the ball; he will crash. That’s why they call it...

Like a magnetized needle floating on a surface of oil, Resistance will unfailingly point to true North – meaning that calling or action it most wants to stop us from doing.We can use this. We...

Start before you’re ready.

You know, Hitler wanted to be an artist. At eighteen he took his inheritance, seven hundred kronen, and moved to Vienna to live and study… Ever see one of his paintings? Neither have I. Resistance...

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

Nothing is as empowering as real-world validation, even if it’s for failure.

Resistance cannot be seen, touched, heard, or smelled. But it can be felt.

We’re all pros already. 1) We show up every day 2) We show up no matter what 3) We stay on the job all day 4) We are committed over the long haul 5) The...