Joseph Campbell Quotes

“Follow your bliss.”

“A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself”

“I think the person who takes a job in order to live - that is to say, for the money - has turned himself into a slave.”

“Passion will move men beyond themselves, beyond their shortcomings, beyond their failures.”

“Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors where there were only walls.”

“We must let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the one that is waiting for us.”

“The adventure that the hero is ready for is the one he gets.”

“You’ve got to say yes to this miracle of life as it is, not on condition that it follow your rules.”

“You must have a place to which you can go in your heart, your mind, or your house, almost every day, where you do not owe anyone and where no one owes you - a place that simply allows for the blossoming of something new and promising.”

“We’re not on our journey to save the world but to save ourselves. But in doing that you save the world. The influence of a vital person vitalizes.”

“Whatever the hell happens, say, ‘This is what I need.’”

“It is only when a man tames his own demons that he becomes the king of himself if not of the world.”

“How to get rid of ego as dictator and turn it into messenger and servant and scout, to be in your service, is the trick.”

“Find a place inside where there’s joy, and the joy will burn out the pain.”

“Regrets are illuminations come too late.”

“The privilege of a lifetime is to be who you are.”

“No one in the world was ever you before, with your particular gifts and abilities and possibilities. It’s a shame to waste those by doing what someone else has done.”

“The world is full of people who have stopped listening to themselves.”

“I don’t believe people are looking for the meaning of life as much as they are looking for the experience of being alive.”

“Participate joyfully in the sorrows of the world. We cannot cure the world of sorrows, but we can choose to live in joy.”

“Sit in a room and read–and read and read. And read the right books by the right people. Your mind is brought onto that level, and you have a nice, mild, slow-burning rapture all the time.”

“The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.”

“If you are falling, dive.”

“The conquest of fear yields the courage of life.”

“Your life is the fruit of your own doing. You have no one to blame but yourself.”

“Once you know the difference between right and wrong, you have lots fewer decisions to make.”

“Every act has both good and evil results. The best we can do is lean to the light.”

“Preachers err by trying to talk people into belief; better they reveal the radiance of their own discovery.”

“You become mature when you become the authority of your own life.”

“If you can see your path laid out in front of you step by step, you know it's not your path. Your own path you make with every step you take.”

“Is the system going to flatten you out and deny you your humanity, or are you going to be able to make use of the system to the attainment of human purposes?”

“In marriage you are not sacrificing yourself to the other person. You are sacrificing yourself to the relationship.”

“Perfection isn’t human. Human beings are not perfect. What evokes our love–and I mean love, not lust–is the imperfection of the human being.”

“The insecure way is the secure way.”

“Anything you do has a still point. When you are in that still point, you can perform maximally.”

“The demon that you can swallow gives you its power, and the greater life’s pain, the greater life’s reply.”

“When you are required to exhibit strength, it comes.”

“Opportunities to find deeper powers within ourselves come when life seems most challenging.”

“Any disaster you can survive is an improvement in your character, your stature, and your life.”

“Out of perfection nothing can be made. Every process involves breaking something up.”

“The old skin has to be shed before the new one can come.”

“Where you stumble, there lies your treasure.”

“The big problem of any young person’s life is to have models to suggest possibilities.”

“Our life evokes our character. You find out more about yourself as you go on. That’s why it’s good to put yourself in situations that will evoke your higher nature rather than your lower.”

“People forget facts, but they remember stories.”

“If you really want to help this world, what you will have to teach is how to live in it.”

“Money is congealed energy, and releasing it releases life’s possibilities.”