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 beat him. Call it overstatement but I'll say it anyway: it was easier for Hitler to start World War II than it was for him to face a blank square of canvas.
Interpretation
The quote reflects on the struggle of creative endeavor versus the ease of destructive action.
In this thought-provoking statement, Steven Pressfield highlights the irony of Adolf Hitler's aspirations as an artist, contrasting his artistic failure with his success in leading a catastrophic war. The quote suggests that the fear of creative insecurity can be so overwhelming that it might lead one to choose paths that ultimately cause harm rather than confronting the vulnerability inherent in artistic expression.
In practice
This quote can be used in a motivational speech about facing challenges in creative pursuits.
Late at night have you experienced a vision of the person you might become, the work you could accomplish, the realized being you were meant to be? Are you a writer who doesn't write, a painter who doesn't paint, an entrepreneur who never starts a venture? Then you know what Resistance is.
It is one thing to study war and another to live the warrior's life.
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.
When we sit down day after day and keep grinding, something mysterious starts to happen... Unseen forces enlist in our cause; serendipity reinforces our purpose.
It’s better to be in the arena, getting stomped by the bull, than to be up in the stands or out in the parking lot.
Rule of thumb: The more important a call or action is to our soul's evolution, the Resistance we will feel toward pursuing it.
Music makes me forget myself, my true condition, it carries me off into another state of being, one that isn't my own.
If you were to ask me, 'What the hell does a musician have in common with a restaurant?' I would say a huge amount. It's show time every day, it's a team of people, like, running a circus, which is running a rock-and-roll band.
I try to stay a civilian, to live as a human, not as a poet.
A created thing is never invented and it is never true: it is always and ever itself.
So while our art cannot, as we wish it could, save us from wars, privation, envy, greed, old age, or death, it can revitalize us amidst it all.
I was in a queer mood, thinking myself very old: but now I am a woman again - as I always am when I write.
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