Joseph Campbell Sayings and Quotes

Below you will find our collection of inspirational, wise, and humorous old Joseph Campbell quotes, Joseph Campbell sayings, and Joseph Campbell proverbs, collected over the years from a variety of sources.'

Myth is much more important and true than history. History is just journalism and you know how reliable that is. Joseph Campbell
Mythology is composed by poets out of their insights and realizations. Mythologies are not invented; they are found. You can no more tell us what your dream is going to be tonight than we can invent a myth. Myths come from the mystical region of essential experience. Joseph Campbell
Myths are clues to the spiritual potentialities of the human life. Joseph Campbell
Myths are public dreams, dreams are private myths. Joseph Campbell
A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself. Joseph Campbell
A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself. Joseph Campbell
When an idea is important to a person or culture it will find its way into imagery. Joseph Campbell
Perhaps some of us have to go through dark and devious ways before we can find the river of peace or the highroad to the soul's destination. Joseph Campbell
We're so engaged in doing things to achieve purposes of outer value that we forget that the inner value, the rapture that is associated with being alive, is what it's all about. Joseph Campbell
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. Joseph Campbell
For Shinto, at root, is a religion not of sermons but of awe: which is a sentiment that may or may not produce words, but in either case goes beyond them. Joseph Campbell
Apocalypse does not point to a fiery Armageddon but to the fact that our ignorance and our complacency are coming to an end. Joseph Campbell
Within the field of a secular society, which is a sort of neutral frame that allows individuals to develop their own lives, so long as they don't annoy their neighbors too much, each of us has an individual myth that's driving us, which we may or may not know. Joseph Campbell
Your sacred space is where you can find yourself again and again. Joseph Campbell
If the path before you is clear, you're probably on someone else's. Joseph Campbell
The warrior's approach is to say “yes” to life: “yes” to it all. We cannot cure the world of sorrows, but we can choose to live in joy. Joseph Campbell
It is by going down into the abyss that we recover the treasures of life. Where you stumble, there lies your treasure. Joseph Campbell
I don't believe people are looking for the meaning of life as much as they are looking for the experience of being alive. Joseph Campbell
Suddenly you’re ripped into being alive. And life is pain, and life is suffering, and life is horror, but my god you’re alive and its spectacular. Joseph Campbell
The big question is whether you are going to be able to say a hearty yes to your adventure. Joseph Campbell
It is by going down into the abyss that we recover the treasures of life. Where you stumble, there lies your treasure. Joseph Campbell
The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are. Joseph Campbell
One can experience an unconditional affirmation of life only when one has accepted death, not as contrary to life, but as an aspect of it. Joseph Campbell
The big question is whether you are going to be able to say a hearty yes to your adventure. Joseph Campbell
The psychotic drowns in the same waters in which the mystic swims with delight. Joseph Campbell
The goal of life is to make your heartbeat match the beat of the universe, to match your nature with nature. Joseph Campbell
We save the world by being alive ourselves. Joseph Campbell
If the path before you is clear, you're probably on someone else's. Joseph Campbell
The function of ritual, as I understand it, is to give form to human life, not in the way of a mere surface arrangement, but in depth. Joseph Campbell
A ritual is the enactment of a myth. And, by participating in the ritual, you are participating in the myth. And since myth is a projection of the depth wisdom of the psyche, by participating in a ritual, participating in the myth, you are being, as it were, put in accord with that wisdom, which is the wisdom that is inherent within you anyhow. Your consciousness is being re-minded of the wisdom of your own life. Joseph Campbell