Joseph Campbell is considered the most important mythologist of the twentieth century. His works and writings are full of the teachings he learned in India and Western culture.
Here you will find our collection of Joseph Campbell Quotes that will inspire you to live without fear and desire.
The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.
– Joseph Campbell
Joseph Campbell Quotes
1. “We must be willing to get rid of the life we’ve planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.” – Joseph Campbell
2. “Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors where there were only walls.” – Joseph Campbell
3. “You become mature when you become the authority of your own life.” – Joseph Campbell
4. “If there were already a path, it would have to be someone else’s; the whole point is to find your own way.” – Joseph Campbell
5. “Eternity is not future or past. Eternity is a dimension of now.” – Joseph Campbell
6. “Your life is the fruit of your own doing. You have no one to blame but yourself.” – Joseph Campbell
7. “The ultimate dragon is within you, it is your ego clamping you down.” – Joseph Campbell
8. “We must be willing to get rid of the life we’ve planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.” – Joseph Campbell
9. “Opportunities to find deeper powers within ourselves come when life seems most challenging.” – Joseph Campbell
10. “Let the world be as it is and learn to rock with the waves.” – Joseph Campbell
11. “It Takes Courage To Do What You Want.” – Joseph Campbell
12. “Find a place inside where there’s joy, and the joy will burn out the pain.” – Joseph Campbell
13. “I don’t have to have faith, I have experience.” – Joseph Campbell
14. “If the path before you is clear, you’re probably on someone else’s.” – Joseph Campbell
15. “All the gods, all the heavens, all the hells, are within you.” – Joseph Campbell
16. “Myths are public dreams, dreams are private myths.” – Joseph Campbell
17. “The goal of life is to make your heartbeat match the beat of the universe, to match your nature with Nature.” – Joseph Campbell
18. “Out of perfection nothing can be made. Every process involves breaking something up.” – Joseph Campbell
19. “God is a metaphor for that which transcends all levels of intellectual thought. It’s as simple as that.” – Joseph Campbell
20. “A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself.” – Joseph Campbell
21. “The psychotic drowns in the same waters in which the mystic swims with delight.” – Joseph Campbell
22. “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
23. “Life is without meaning. You bring the meaning to it. The meaning of life is whatever you ascribe it to be. Being alive is the meaning.” – Joseph Campbell
24. “If you travel far enough, you’ll eventually meet yourself.” – Joseph Campbell
25. “The world is perfect. It’s a mess. It has always been a mess. We are not going to change it.” – Joseph Campbell
26. “You don’t understand death, you learn to acquiesce in death.” – Joseph Campbell
27. “The image of God is your final obstruction to a religious experience.” – Joseph Campbell
28. “When you are on the right path, invisible hands will come to your aid.” – Joseph Campbell
29. “If you want to change the world, you have to change the metaphor.” – Joseph Campbell
30. “God is the experience of looking at a tree and saying, Ah..!” – Joseph Campbell
31. “If you really want to help this world, what you really will have to teach is how to live in it.” – Joseph Campbell
32. “The ultimate aim of the quest must be neither release nor ecstasy for oneself, but the wisdom and the power to serve others.” – Joseph Campbell
33. “The ultimate, unqualified mystery is beyond human experience.” – Joseph Campbell
34. “The distance of your love is the distance of your life. Love is exactly as strong as life.” – Joseph Campbell
35. “When you are on your path, and it is truly your path, doors will open for you where there were no doors for someone else.” – Joseph Campbell
36. “Sentiment is an echo of violence. It’s not really a vital expression.” – Joseph Campbell
37. “If you’re going to have a story, have a big story, or none at all.” – Joseph Campbell
38. “We have to let go of our plans if we are to become the person we are meant to be.” – Joseph Campbell
39. “You have to learn to recognize your own depths.” – Joseph Campbell
40. “A myth is something that has never happened, but is happening all the time.” – Joseph Campbell
41. “To translate knowledge and information into experience: that seems to be the function of literature and art.” – Joseph Campbell
42. “The lines of communication between the conscious and the unconscious zones of the human psyche have all been cut, and we have been split in two.” – Joseph Campbell
43. “Myth is much more important and true than history.” – Joseph Campbell
44. “Myth helps you to put your mind in touch with this experience of being alive.” – Joseph Campbell
45. “The metaphor is the mask of God through which eternity is to be experienced.” – Joseph Campbell
46. “What we’re learning in our schools is not the wisdom of life. We’re learning technologies, we’re getting information.” – Joseph Campbell
47. “Desire and fear: these are the two emotions by which all life in the world is governed.” – Joseph Campbell
48. “It is the imperfections of life that are lovable.” – Joseph Campbell
49. “All men are capable of reason. That is the fundamental principle of democracy.” – Joseph Campbell
50. “We no longer desire and fear; we are what was desired and feared.” – Joseph Campbell
51. “You can keep an old tradition going only by renewing it in terms of current circumstances.” – Joseph Campbell
