The War of Art: Winning the Inner Creative Battle

“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.”

Pressfield starts with a bold claim that beating Resistance is more difficult than the work itself. This emphasizes how significant a hindrance Resistance is for artists. By distinguishing between “Real writers” and “wannabe writers” Pressfield hints that “wannabes” can become professionals if they overcome their Resistance. Pressfield uses short declarative sentences to emphasize his point.

“Resistance will tell you anything to keep you from doing your work. It will perjure, fabricate, falsify; seduce, bully, cajole. Resistance is protean. It will assume any form, if that’s what it takes to deceive you […] Resistance is always lying and always full of shit.”

Pressfield employs his typical frankness to vilify Resistance as an evil and cunning force. This quote underlines his exploration of Resistance’s many manifestations, and encourages the reader to be vigilant about how they may be generating Resistance in their own lives. Pressfield combines highbrow language—“protean”—with more colloquial prose—“always full of shit.”

“Henry Fonda was still throwing up before each stage performance, even when he was seventy-five. In other words, 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.”

Pressfield questions the idea that artists stop being afraid about their work. He argues that being creative is not about becoming fearless, but about continually conquering fear as it arises. Here, Pressfield introduces his analogy in which he compares artists to warriors, as fighting Resistance is also a kind of “battle.”