Ambition, I have come to believe, is the most primal and sacred fundament of our being. To feel ambition and to act upon it is to embrace the unique calling of our souls. Not to act upon that ambition is to turn our backs on ourselves and on the reason for our existence. (Location 110)
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I wasn't writing books. I wasn't facing my demons. I was spectating at life through the movie screen of a cab-over windshield, while every mile I traveled only carried me farther away from where I needed to go and from who I needed to become. (Location 153)
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In the shadow life, we live in denial and we act by addiction. We pursue callings that take us nowhere and permit ourselves to be controlled by compulsions that we cannot understand (or are not aware of) and whose outcomes serve only to keep us caged, unconscious and going nowhere. The shadow life is the life of the amateur. In the shadow life we pursue false objects and act upon inverted ambitions. The shadow life, the life of the amateur and the addict, is not benign. The longer we cleave to this life, the farther we drift from our true purpose, and the harder it becomes for us to rally the courage to get back. (Location 173)
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The difference between an amateur and a professional is in their habits. An amateur has amateur habits. A professional has professional habits. (Location 190)
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The amateur is an egotist. He takes the material of his personal pain and uses it to draw attention to himself. He creates a "life," a "character," a "personality." The artist and the professional, on the other hand, have turned a corner in their minds. They have succeeded in stepping back from themselves. They have grown so bored with themselves and so sick of their petty bullshit that they can manipulate those elements the way a HazMat technician handles weapons-grade plutonium. (Location 226)
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Resistance hates two qualities above all others: concentration and depth. Why? Because when we work with focus and we work deep, we succeed. ... Resistance wants to keep us shallow and unfocused. So it makes the superficial and the vain intoxicating. (Location 342)
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What you and I are really seeking is our own voice, our own truth, our own authenticity. (Location 353)
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