I wrote in the War of Art that I could divide my life neatly into two parts: before turning pro and after. After is better.
Stay primitive. Trust the soup. Swing for the seats.
The hero wanders. The hero suffers. The hero returns.
We get ourselves in trouble because it’s a cheap way to get attention. Trouble is a faux form of fame.
It may be that the human race is not ready for freedom. The air of liberty may be too rarefied for us to breathe. Certainly I wouldn’t be writing this book, on this subject, if living with freedom were easy. The paradox seems to be, as Socrates demonstrated long ago, that the truly free individual is free only to the extent of his own self-mastery. While those who will not govern themselves are condemned to find masters to govern over them.
The more important an activity is to your soul’s evolution, the more you will feel resistance to it.
In other words, any act that rejects immediate gratification in favor of long-term growth, health, or integrity.
Decisions are crazy. Sometimes all it takes to get over the hump is a friend who gives you permission.
Every warrior virtue proceeds from this – courage, selflessness, love of and loyalty to one’s comrades, patience, self-command, the will to endure adversity.
Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.” Begin it now.
Subject is deeper than topic. It’s not “what it’s about,” it’s what it’s really about.
I learned this from Robert McKee. A hack, he says, is a writer who second-guesses his audience. When the hack sits down to work, he doesn’t ask himself what’s in his own heart. He asks what the market is looking for.
What is the pain of being human? It’s the condition of being suspended between two worlds and being unable to fully enter into either.
But rationalization has its own sidekick. It’s that part of our psyche that actually believes what rationalization tells us. It’s one thing to lie to ourselves. It’s another thing to believe it.
A professional does not take success or failure personally.
Xerxes does not want your lives, sir,” Tommie called. “Only your arms.” Leonidas laughed. “Tell him to come and get them.
The amateur is often unkind or insensitive to others, but she saves her most exquisite cruelty for herself.
The Warrior Ethos evolved to counter the instinct of self-preservation.
Resistance plays for keeps. It plays to kill. Resistance is fueled by fear. It has no power on its own. Every ounce of juice it possesses comes from us. Master the fear and we conquer resistance.
There are gods who watch over lost souls, particularly those who dream, and when these divinities’ unknowable purposes align with the enterprise of these exiled souls, a force begins to flow that is as unquenchable as it is pure, and as knowing as it is indefatigable.
When I sit down to write in the morning, I literally have no expectations for myself or for the day’s work. My only goal is to put in three or four hours with my fingers punching the keys. I don’t judge myself on quality. I don’t hold myself accountable for quantity. The only questions I ask are, Did I show up? Did I try my best?