As powerful as is our soul's call, so potent are the forces of Resistance arrayed against it. We're not alone if we've been mowed down by Resistance; millions of good men and women have bitten the dust before us.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the struggle against inner and outer resistance when pursuing one's true calling.
Steven Pressfield highlights the common experience of fighting against resistance when trying to fulfill one's soul's purpose. He reassures individuals that feeling defeated by this resistance is a shared struggle, experienced by many others who have also faced significant challenges in their quest for creativity and achievement.
In practice
This quote can be shared during a motivational speech about pursuing one's dreams.
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.
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.
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.
Old breed? New breed? There's not a damn bit of difference so long as it's the Marine breed.
I'm told I'm a statistic. I'm told that my young black sisters are disease-ridden... but we are greater than what society tells us we are.
That something that I fought so hard for throughout the beginning of my career is I didn't want to pancake my skin a lighter color to fit into the... ballet. I wanted to be myself. I didn't want to have to wear makeup that made my nose look thinner.
Only Spartan women give birth to real men.
The Jiu Jitsu I created was designed to give the weak ones a chance to face the heavy and strong.
Courageous people feel the same fear everyone else does, they just decide to not be afraid anymore.
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