--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The only items you get to keep are love…" description: "\"“The only items you get to keep are love for the work, will to finish, and passion to serve the ethical, creative Muse.”\" — Steven Pressfield" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bc5/steven-pressfield-696_artist_the-only-items-you-get-to-keep-are-love_453747.jpg" --- # The only items you get to keep are love for the work, will… ![“The only items you get to keep are love for the work, will to finish, and passion to serve the ethical, creative Muse.” quote by Steven Pressfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bc5/steven-pressfield-696_artist_the-only-items-you-get-to-keep-are-love_453747.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bc5/steven-pressfield-696_artist_the-only-items-you-get-to-keep-are-love_453747.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bc5/steven-pressfield-696_artist_the-only-items-you-get-to-keep-are-love_453747.jpg) > ““The only items you get to keep are love for the work, will to finish, and passion to serve the ethical, creative Muse.”” [Steven Pressfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pressfield/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. True fulfillment comes from loving one’s craft, persisting to finish, and serving a higher creative purpose. **In simple terms:** Love work, finish, serve muse. Key Takeaway Cultivate passion and perseverance. Themes creativity purpose discipline artistry Mood motivational inspirational Type philosophical practical When to use this quote - writing - painting - software development - entrepreneurship Key Concepts intrinsic motivation ethical creativity Questions to Reflect On - What drives you to keep creating? - How do you align your work with deeper values? A Different Perspective Passion alone may not sustain effort without practical skills or resources. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Artist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/artist/) [Creative Muse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/creative-muse-382839/) [Ethical Creative](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ethical-creative-3954360/) [Items Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/items-love-358786/) [Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love/) [Love Work](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love-work/) [Muse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/muse/) [Passion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/passion/) ## Related quotes > [I wish you a wrestling match with your Creative Muse that will last a lifetime. ... I wish craziness and foolishness and madness upon…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-bradbury/i-wish-you-a-wrestling-match-with-your-creative-muse-that-will-last-a/) [Ray Bradbury](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-bradbury/) > [“I get the niggling feeling in my belly that says it's time for a new song. It hits at the most random, inopportune times.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-m-stunich/i-get-the-niggling-feeling-in-my-belly-that-says-it-s-time-for-a-new/) [C.M. Stunich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-m-stunich/) > [“...in search of my creative muse while writing a novel.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/atlas-brown/in-search-of-my-creative-muse-while-writing-a-novel/) [Atlas Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/atlas-brown/) > [Creating a personal space with individual items that you love is so much easier on the wallet and really expresses your creativity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sussanne-khan/creating-a-personal-space-with-individual-items-that-you-love-is-so/) [Sussanne Khan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sussanne-khan/) > [Our variety is one of the key reasons our customers love us. We continue to provide all of the menu items they love, while…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenny-harrison/our-variety-is-one-of-the-key-reasons-our-customers-love-us-we/) [Kenny Harrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenny-harrison/) > [If an artist is reaching for the universe as a source of creative muse, then I'm there. I'm gonna say, "Yeah. Here's Saturn. Here's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-degrasse-tyson/if-an-artist-is-reaching-for-the-universe-as-a-source-of-creative/) [Neil deGrasse Tyson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-degrasse-tyson/) > [“Just when I figured out how to quiet the characters in my head, the multiple stories my creative muse wants me to write started…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/l-m-fields/just-when-i-figured-out-how-to-quiet-the-characters-in-my-head-the/) [L.M. Fields](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/l-m-fields/) > [A lot of the time you just have to follow your creative muse and do what you think is best for the story.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-remender/a-lot-of-the-time-you-just-have-to-follow-your-creative-muse-and-do/) [Rick Remender](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-remender/) > [“File under "Hard Truths": the creative muse is fiction. If you sit around waiting for the right moment to create, you will die waiting.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/antony-johnston/file-under-hard-truths-the-creative-muse-is-fiction-if-you-sit-around/) [Antony Johnston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/antony-johnston/) > [“If you want to write, if you want to create, you must be the most sublime fool that God ever turned out and sent…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-bradbury/if-you-want-to-write-if-you-want-to-create-you-must-be-the-most/) [Ray Bradbury](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-bradbury/) > [I believe in previous lives and the Muse—and that books and music exist before they are written and that they are propelled into material…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-pressfield/i-believe-in-previous-lives-and-the-muse-and-that-books-and-music/) [Steven Pressfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pressfield/) > [This is the other secret that real artists know and wannabe writers don’t. When we sit down each day and do our work, power…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-pressfield/this-is-the-other-secret-that-real-artists-know-and-wannabe-writers/) [Steven Pressfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pressfield/) > [“Remember, the Muse favors working stiffs. She hates prima donnas. To the gods the supreme sin is not rape or murder, but pride.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-pressfield/remember-the-muse-favors-working-stiffs-she-hates-prima-donnas-to-the/) [Steven Pressfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pressfield/) > [A work-in-progress generates its own energy field. You, the artist or entrepreneur, are pouring love into the work; you are suffusing it with passion…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-pressfield/a-work-in-progress-generates-its-own-energy-field-you-the-artist-or/) [Steven Pressfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pressfield/) > [I'm truly, 100% guided by the characters and my Muse. If one of the characters suddenly decided to do something very different, I'd just…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lori-foster/i-m-truly-100-guided-by-the-characters-and-my-muse-if-one-of-the/) [Lori Foster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lori-foster/) ## More by Steven Pressfield > [Most of us have two lives. The life we live, and the unlived life within us. Between the two stands Resistance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-pressfield/most-of-us-have-two-lives-the-life-we-live-and-the-unlived-life/) [Steven Pressfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pressfield/) > [“The artist and the fundamentalist both confront the same issue, the mystery of their existence as individuals. 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You want to savor it, to twist the blade…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-pressfield/that-of-dealing-death-of-loosing-another-man-s-soul-and-sending-it/) [Steven Pressfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pressfield/) > [“Resistance is experienced as fear; the degree of fear equates to the strength of Resistance. Therefore the more fear we feel about a specific…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-pressfield/resistance-is-experienced-as-fear-the-degree-of-fear-equates-to-the/) [Steven Pressfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pressfield/) > [When we sit down each day and do our work, power concentrates around us... Ideas come. Insights accrete.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-pressfield/when-we-sit-down-each-day-and-do-our-work-power-concentrates-around/) [Steven Pressfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pressfield/) > [Anything that draws attention to ourselves through pain-free or artificial means is a manifestation of Resistance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-pressfield/anything-that-draws-attention-to-ourselves-through-pain-free-or/) [Steven Pressfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pressfield/) > [The Gnostics believed that exile was the essential condition of man. Do you agree? I do. The artist and the addict both wrestle with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-pressfield/the-gnostics-believed-that-exile-was-the-essential-condition-of-man/) [Steven Pressfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pressfield/) > [“Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting: The soul that rises with us, our life's star, Hath had elsewhere its setting, And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-pressfield/our-birth-is-but-a-sleep-and-a-forgetting-the-soul-that-rises-with-us/) [Steven Pressfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pressfield/) > [You are a writer when you tell yourself you are. No one else's opinion matters. Screw them. You are when you say you are.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-pressfield/you-are-a-writer-when-you-tell-yourself-you-are-no-one-else-s-opinion/) [Steven Pressfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pressfield/) > [“Resistance outwits the amateur with the oldest trick in the book: It uses his own enthusiasm against him. Resistance gets us to plunge into…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-pressfield/resistance-outwits-the-amateur-with-the-oldest-trick-in-the-book-it/) [Steven Pressfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pressfield/) > [“I don't need to read nothing,' said the New Zealander. 'I was there.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-pressfield/i-don-t-need-to-read-nothing-said-the-new-zealander-i-was-there/) [Steven Pressfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pressfield/) [Explore all 404 Steven Pressfield quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pressfield/) ## More Artist quotes > [One is a painter because one wants so-called freedom; one doesn't want to go to the office every morning.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-duchamp/one-is-a-painter-because-one-wants-so-called-freedom-one-doesn-t-want/) [Marcel Duchamp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-duchamp/) > [True works of art contain their own theory and give us the measurement according to which we should judge them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/true-works-of-art-contain-their-own-theory-and-give-us-the/) [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/) > [I think most artists feel like they're outside society - no matter how many accolades they receive, or how much money is in your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aaron-rose/i-think-most-artists-feel-like-they-re-outside-society-no-matter-how/) [Aaron Rose](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aaron-rose/) > [“People in coats and ties were milling around the Talley gallery, and on the wall were the minimally rendered still lifes by Giorgio Morandi,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-martin/people-in-coats-and-ties-were-milling-around-the-talley-gallery-and/) [Steve Martin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-martin/) > [The prophet who fails to present a bearable alternative and yet preaches doom is part of the trap that he postulates. Not only does…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-mead/the-prophet-who-fails-to-present-a-bearable-alternative-and-yet/) [Margaret Mead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-mead/) > [“So, really," continued Jacob as if this were perfectly normal to expound on art in these circumstances, "when you think about it, the artists…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/justina-chen-headley/so-really-continued-jacob-as-if-this-were-perfectly-normal-to-expound/) [Justina Chen Headley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/justina-chen-headley/) > [“There are two options in art; either to adopt philosophical life by dissecting art, or to write your own philosophical life and claim it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/taf-teh/there-are-two-options-in-art-either-to-adopt-philosophical-life-by/) [Taf Teh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/taf-teh/) > [From as long as I can remember, I was always fond of drawing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/st-lucia/from-as-long-as-i-can-remember-i-was-always-fond-of-drawing/) [St. Lucia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/st-lucia/) > [I think a business guy is different from an artist. 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