I stumbled upon Virtues of War by Steven Pressfield today. Don’t quite remember how I found it, but I’m glad I did.

The book is a fictional re-telling of Alexander the Great. I have not yet read through the first fifty pages, but already I find inspiration:

What drives the solder is cardia, “heart”, and dynamis, “the will to fight”. Nothing else matters in war. Not weapons or tactics, philosohpy or patriotism. Only this love of glory, which is the seminal imperative of mortal blood, as ineradicable within man as in a wolf or lion, and without which we are nothing.

In this passage, Alexander is describing the perfect soldier, but his description can—and should—be applied much more broadly. Success, in any endeavor, requires a passionate drive to fight and keep fighting. Weapons, skills, tactics, philosophy: these things do matter, but they matter much less than passionate persistence—for what good are they if they are not put to use.