Joseph Campbell quotes

I first studied Joseph Campbell in college and graduate school, then happily discovered his ideas as presented in the seminal book “The Hero With a Thousand Faces” had become popular in Hollywood. I occasionally post an inspirational quote from Campbell accompanied by my own reflections. Here is a collection of those posts.

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

Day 2: “The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are.”

Day 3: If we fix on the old, we get stuck. When we hang onto any form, we are in danger of putrefaction.”

Day 4: “When you follow your bliss… doors will open where you would not have thought there would be doors; and where there wouldn’t be a door for anyone else.”

Day 5: “The warrior’s approach is to say ‘yes’ to life: ‘yes’ to it all.”

Day 6: “When we quit thinking primarily about ourselves and our own self-preservation, we undergo a truly heroic transformation of consciousness.”

Day 7: “Your sacred space is where you can find yourself again and again.”

Day 8: “It is by going down into the abyss that we recover the treasures of life. Where you stumble, there lies your treasure.”

Day 9: “All the gods, all the heavens, all the hells, are within you.”

For more on Joseph Campbell, go to the Joseph Campbell Foundation.