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Joseph Campbell Quotes - Page 5

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Respect your curses, for they are the instruments of your destiny.

Respect your curses, for they are the instruments of your destiny.

Joseph Campbell
Destiny, Instruments, Curse

The best things cannot be told because they transcend thought. The second best are misunderstood because they are the thoughts that are supposed to refer to that which cannot be thought about. The third best are what we talk about.

Joseph Campbell
Misunderstood, Second Best, Thirds
Joseph Campbell, Bill D. Moyers (1988). “The Power of Myth”, Harmony

Read myths. They teach you that you can turn inward, and you begin to get the message of the symbols. Read other people's myths, not those of your own religion, because you tend to interpret your own religion in terms of facts -- but if you read the other ones, you begin to get the message.

Joseph Campbell
People, Inward, Messages
Joseph Campbell, Bill Moyers (2011). “The Power of Myth”, p.5, Anchor

You can't have creativity unless you leave behind the bounded, the fixed, all the rules

Joseph Campbell
Creativity, Fixed, Behinds
Joseph Campbell, Bill Moyers (2011). “The Power of Myth”, p.194, Anchor

When you no longer are compelled by desire and fear . . . when you have seen the radiance in eternity from all forms of time . . . when you follow your bliss . . . doors will open where you would not have thought there were doors . . . and the world will step in and help.

Joseph Campbell
Life, Doors, Desire

I think of mythology as the homeland of the muses, the inspirers of art, the inspirers of poetry. To see life as a poem and yourself participating in a poem is what the myth does for you.

Joseph Campbell
Art, Thinking, Doe
Joseph Campbell, Bill Moyers (2011). “The Power of Myth”, p.65, Anchor

I don’t think there is any such thing as an ordinary mortal. Everybody has his own possibility of rapture in the experience of life. All he has to do is recognize it and then cultivate it and get going with it. I always feel uncomfortable when people speak about ordinary mortals because I’ve never met an ordinary man, woman, or child.

Joseph Campbell
Life, Children, Women
Joseph Campbell, Bill D. Moyers (1988). “The Power of Myth”, Harmony

Where you stumble, there lies your treasure. The very cave you are afraid to enter turns out to be the source of what you are looking for. The damned thing in the cave that was so dreaded has become the center.

Joseph Campbell
Lying, Caves, Treasure
"A Joseph Campbell Companion: Reflections on the Art of Living". Book edited by Diane K. Osbon, 1991.

Questing... is not an ego trip; it is an adventure to bring into fulfillment your gift to the world, which is yourself.

Joseph Campbell
Adventure, Ego, World
Joseph Campbell (2009). “Pathways to Bliss: Mythology and Personal Transformation: Easyread Large Edition”, p.185, ReadHowYouWant.com

If you're going to have a story, have a big story, or none at all.

Joseph Campbell
Inspirational, Inspiring, Stories

Regrets are illuminations come too late.

Joseph Campbell
Inspirational, Regret, Illumination
Joseph Campbell (2008). “The Hero with a Thousand Faces”, p.101, New World Library

There's nothing you can do that's more important than being fulfilled. You become a sign, you become a signal, transparent to transcendence; in this way, you will find, live, and become a realization of your own personal myth.

Joseph Campbell
Inspirational, Spiritual, Wisdom
Joseph Campbell (2009). “Pathways to Bliss: Mythology and Personal Transformation: Easyread Large Edition”, p.185, ReadHowYouWant.com

You know, when real trouble comes your humanity is awakened. The fundamental human experience is that of compassion.

Joseph Campbell
Real, Compassion, Humanity
Joseph Campbell (1991). “The Hero's Journey: The World of Joseph Campbell : Joseph Campbell on His Life and Work”, Harper San Francisco

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. So, when the imperfection of the real person peaks through, say, 'This is a challenge to my compassion.' Then make a try, and something might begin to get going.

Joseph Campbell
Love, Real, Mean

The place to find is within yourself.

Joseph Campbell

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

Joseph Campbell
Inspirational, Pain, Giving
Joseph Campbell, Bill D. Moyers (1988). “The Power of Myth”, Harmony

All societies are evil, sorrowful, inequitable; and so they will always be. So if you really want to help this world, what you will have to teach is how to live in it. And that no one can do who has not himself learned how to live in it in the joyful sorrow and sorrowful joy of the knowledge of life as it is.

Joseph Campbell
Evil, Joy, Sorrow
"Myths to Live By".

It [music] has an awakening function. Life is a rhythm. Art is an organization of rhythms. Music is a fundamental art that touches our will system. In Schopenhauer's The World as Will and Idea he speaks of music as the sound that awakens the will. The rhythm of the music awakens certain life rhythms, ways of living and experiencing life. So it's an awakener of life.

Joseph Campbell
Inspirational, Art, Organization

Nothing is exciting if you know what the outcome is going to be.

Joseph Campbell
Outcomes, Exciting, Knows

Where you stumble and fall, there you will find gold.

Joseph Campbell
Inspirational, Fall, Gold

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
Inspirational, Life, Encouraging
Joseph Campbell (2011). “A Joseph Campbell Companion: Reflections on the Art of Living”, p.8, Joseph Campbell Foundation

If you want the whole thing, the gods will give it to you. But you must be ready for it.

Joseph Campbell
Inspirational, Giving, Want
Joseph Campbell (2011). “A Joseph Campbell Companion: Reflections on the Art of Living”, p.17, Joseph Campbell Foundation

If you will think of ourselves as coming out of the earth, rather than having been thrown in here from somewhere else, you see that we are the earth, we are the consciousness of the earth. These are the eyes of the Earth. And this is the voice of the earth.

Joseph Campbell
Eye, Thinking, Somewhere Else
Joseph Campbell, Bill Moyers (2011). “The Power of Myth”, p.40, Anchor

This, I believe, is the great Western truth: that each of us is a completely unique creature and that, if we are ever to give any gift to the world, it will have to come out of our own experience and fulfillment of our own potentialities, not someone else's.

Joseph Campbell
Believe, Unique, Giving
Joseph Campbell, Bill Moyers (2011). “The Power of Myth”, p.186, Anchor

A dream is your creative vision for your life in the future. A goal is what specifically you intend to make happen. Dreams and goals should be just out of your present reach but not out of sight. Dreams and goals are coming attractions in your life.

Joseph Campbell
Encouraging, Dream, Sight

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