You’ve got to say yes to this miracle of life as it is, not on condition that it follow your rules.
Joseph Campbell
Acceptance, Life, Freedom, Philosophy, Personal Growth, Perspective
Joseph Campbell’s Quotes On Topics
Earth’s Beauty | Knowledge Paradox | Divine Experience | Heroic Journey | Timeless Narratives | Seasonal Cycles | Mythic Thinking | Threshold Crossing | Sage Wisdom | Embracing Hope | Life Affirmation | Senses | Imperfection | Pain Relief | Revelation | Awareness | Actions | Humanity’s Essence | Global Transformation | Recollection | More
More Joseph Campbell Quotes
“The ultimate dragon is within you, it is your ego clamping you down.” Joseph Campbell
Ego, Inner Struggle, Self-Realization, Personal Growth, Mindset, Self-Mastery
Joseph Campbell Ego, Inner Struggle, Self-Realization, Personal Growth, Mindset, Self-Mastery“If you live with the myths in your mind, you will find yourself always in mythological situations. They cover everything that can happen to you. And that enables you to interpret the myth in relation to life, as well as life in relation to myth.” Joseph Campbell
Mythology, Life Interpretation, Ancient Wisdom, Mythic Thinking, Cultural Narratives, Perspective
Joseph Campbell Mythology, Life Interpretation, Ancient Wisdom, Mythic Thinking, Cultural Narratives, Perspective“This is an important point about symbols: they do not refer to historical events; they refer through historical events to spiritual or psychological principles and powers that are of yesterday, today, and tomorrow, and that are everywhere.” Joseph Campbell
Symbols, Spirituality, Psychology, Timelessness, Meaning, Universal Truth
Joseph Campbell Symbols, Spirituality, Psychology, Timelessness, Meaning, Universal Truth“Myth is much more important and true than history.” Joseph Campbell
Myth, History, Truth, Reality, Wisdom, Understanding
Joseph Campbell Myth, History, Truth, Reality, Wisdom, Understanding“When you follow your bliss, you begin to meet people who are in the field of your bliss, and they open the doors to you.” Joseph Campbell
Following Bliss, Life’s Connections, Bliss, Life, Connections, Journey
Joseph Campbell Following Bliss, Life’s Connections, Bliss, Life, Connections, Journey“Instead of clearing his own heart the zealot tries to clear the world.” Joseph Campbell
Zealotry, Inner Work, Personal Responsibility, Change, Compassion, Spiritual Growth
Joseph Campbell Zealotry, Inner Work, Personal Responsibility, Change, Compassion, Spiritual Growth“The central point of the world is the point where stillness and movement are together. Movement is time, but stillness is eternity. Realizing how this moment of your life is actually a moment of eternity, and experiencing the eternal aspect of what you’re doing in the temporal experience – this is the mythological experience. So is the central mountain of the world Jerusalem? Rome? Benares? Lhasa? Mexico City?” Joseph Campbell
Stillness, Eternity, Time, Philosophy, Life Experience, Mythology
Joseph Campbell Stillness, Eternity, Time, Philosophy, Life Experience, Mythology“What we’re learning in our schools is not the wisdom of life. We’re learning technologies, we’re getting information. There’s a curious reluctance on the part of faculties to indicate the life values of their subjects.” Joseph Campbell
Education, Life Wisdom, Knowledge, Values, Schooling, Personal Growth
Joseph Campbell Education, Life Wisdom, Knowledge, Values, Schooling, Personal Growth“Gods suppressed become devils, and often it is these devils whom we first encounter when we turn inward.” Joseph Campbell
Inner Demons, Suppressed Gods, Demons, Inner, Gods, Suppression
Joseph Campbell Inner Demons, Suppressed Gods, Demons, Inner, Gods, Suppression“The hero is the champion of things becoming, not of things become, because he is.” Joseph Campbell
Heroism, Becoming, Transformation, Personal Growth, Change, Identity
Joseph Campbell Heroism, Becoming, Transformation, Personal Growth, Change, Identity“It is not society which is to guide and save the creative hero, but precisely the reverse.” Joseph Campbell
Creative Heroism, Societal Reversal, Individual Freedom, Heroism, Society, Creativity
Joseph Campbell Creative Heroism, Societal Reversal, Individual Freedom, Heroism, Society, Creativity“Poetry comes out of an elite experience, the experience of people whose ears are opened to the song of the universe.” Joseph Campbell
Poetry, Experience, Inspiration, Universe, Art, Creativity
Joseph Campbell Poetry, Experience, Inspiration, Universe, Art, Creativity“Mythology is the womb of man’s initiation to life and death.” Joseph Campbell
Mythology’s Role, Life And Death, Mythology, Role, Life, Death
Joseph Campbell Mythology’s Role, Life And Death, Mythology, Role, Life, Death“People often think of the Goddess as a fertility deity only. Not at all – she’s the muse. She’s the inspirer of poetry. She’s the inspirer of the spirit. So, she has three functions: one, to give us life; two, to be the one who receives us in death; and three, to inspire our spiritual, poetic realization.” Joseph Campbell
Goddess, Inspiration, Spirit, Poetry, Life, Death
Joseph Campbell Goddess, Inspiration, Spirit, Poetry, Life, Death“It has always been the prime function of mythology and rite to supply the symbols that carry the human spirit forward.” Joseph Campbell
Mythology, Symbolism, Spirituality, Rite, Humanity, Tradition
Joseph Campbell Mythology, Symbolism, Spirituality, Rite, Humanity, Tradition“They thought that it would be a disgrace to go forth as a group. Each entered the forest at a point that he himself had chosen, where it was darkest and there was no path. If there is a path it is someone else’s path and you are not on the adventure.” Joseph Campbell
Individual Paths, Hero’s Journey, Forest Symbolism, Self-Reliance, Adventure, Courage
Joseph Campbell Individual Paths, Hero’s Journey, Forest Symbolism, Self-Reliance, Adventure, Courage“I will never forget the experience I had when I was in Japan, a place that never heard of the Fall and the Garden of Eden. One of the Shinto texts says that the processes of nature cannot be evil. Every natural impulse is not to be corrected but to be sublimated, to be beautified. There is a glorious interest in the beauty of nature and cooperation with nature, so that in some of those gardens you don’t know where nature begins and art ends – this was a tremendous experience.” Joseph Campbell
Nature, Beauty, Japan, Spirituality, Art, Harmony
Joseph Campbell Nature, Beauty, Japan, Spirituality, Art, Harmony“If you want the whole thing, the gods will give it to you. But you must be ready for it.” Joseph Campbell
Desire, Gods, Readiness, Life, Spirituality, Wisdom
Joseph Campbell Desire, Gods, Readiness, Life, Spirituality, Wisdom“Our own poor poets, I am afraid, have been so intimidated by our clinics and laboratories that they have abandoned the first principles of beginning, that of the festival; and the heart of the festival has always been the atmosphere of myth, of delight.” Joseph Campbell
Creativity, Culture, Myth, Tradition, Inspiration, Expression
Joseph Campbell Creativity, Culture, Myth, Tradition, Inspiration, Expression“Such an image of one’s god becomes a final obstruction, one’s ultimate barrier. You hold on to your own ideology, your own little manner of thinking, and when a larger experience of God approaches, an experience greater than you are prepared to receive, you take flight from it by clinging to the image in your mind. This is known as preserving your faith.” Joseph Campbell
Faith, Personal Ideology, Religious Limitations, Divine Experience, Spiritual Growth, Ego Struggle
Joseph Campbell Faith, Personal Ideology, Religious Limitations, Divine Experience, Spiritual Growth, Ego Struggle