Steven Pressfield Quotes

One cannot always be a hero, but one can always be a man.

It takes courage to speak up against complacency and injustice while others remain silent. But that's what leadership is.

Every time we witness an injustice and do not act, we train our character to be passive in its presence and thereby eventually lose all ability to defend ourselves and those we love.

In day-to-day life, you have stimulus to behave unethically, but in the long term, it always pays off to be ethical.

Ethical is 'I'll wait and do what's right even in the hardest times and even if I have to give up gains to do it.'

Faced with what is right, to leave it undone shows a lack of courage.

The imperative is to define what is right and do it.

Citizens with a conscience are not going to ignore wrong-doing simply because they'll be destroyed for it: the conscience forbids it.

My power for good, whatever it may, would be gone if I didn’t try to live up to the doctrines I have tried to preach.

Integrity in the Moment of Choice: Quality of life depends on what happens in the space between stimulus and response.

I've lost a lot. I've lost money, and my reputation has taken a hit for taking the high road to protect my dignity, to protect children, and for other good causes. But I don't think there's ever too steep a price for doing the right thing.

Mankind censure injustice fearing that they may be the victims of it, and not because they shrink from committing it.

To know what is right and choose to ignore it is the act of a coward.

I'm telling you, you did what you believed you had to do through all of this. Not what was easiest or best for you. You did what you did, and you're owning it. And I don't know ten men who would be brave enough to do that.

...guilt leads to righteous action, but rarely is it the right action.

Those who really deserve praise are the people who, while human enough to enjoy power, nevertheless pay more attention to justice than they are compelled to do by their situation.

The greatest threat to mankind comes from the renunciation of individual scruple in favor of institutional denominators. . . . Real heroism lies, as it always will, not in conformity or even patriotism, but in acts of solitary moral courage. Which, come to think of it, is what we used to admire in our Christian savior

Evil is a matter of choice. Those people who have been victimized and refuse to imitate their oppressors are in my mind the greatest heroes we have.

We have to give our opinion, we have to say something, or we are a part of it. As an artist I am forced to say something.

My work is to be honest. My work is to try to think clearly, then have the courage to make sure that what I say is the truth.

Heroism is a matter of integrity--beco ming more and more at each step ourselves.

Honor was never taking the easy way when it was also the wrong one. Never telling a falsehood unless the truth was painful and unnecessary, or a lie was necessary to save others. Never manipulating the truth to serve only yourself. Protecting the weak and helpless; standing fast even when fear made you weak. Keeping your word.

A hero is someone who over and over does the right thing even though no one is there to witness it.

Better not be a hero than work oneself up into heroism by shouting lies.

The weakest man is the one who is able to correct his moral defects, but doesn't take action.