Joseph Campbell is one of the most influential authors in the history of American literature. His writings are known for their universal themes and ability to help people understand themselves and the world around them. His books have been translated into more than 40 languages, and his books have been sold more than 10 million copies worldwide.
He turned the psychological theory of the hero into a workable formula for thinking about how people approached their lives. His archetypal hero is a character who is good, noble, courageous, and selfless.
Here is the list of his most inspiring quotes that will encourage you to follow your bliss in everything.
67 Inspirational Joseph Campbell Quotes
“Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors for you where there were only walls.”
“Myths are public dreams, dreams are private myths.”
“Instead of clearing his own heart the zealot tries to clear the world.”
“The agony of breaking through personal limitations is the agony of spiritual growth.”
“We must let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the one that is waiting for us.”
“If the path before you is clear, you’re probably on someone else’s.”
“There is perhaps nothing worse than reaching the top of the ladder and discovering that you’re on the wrong wall.”
“Your sacred space is where you can find yourself again and again.”
“We’re so engaged in doing things to achieve purposes of outer value that we forget the inner value, the rapture that is associated with being alive, is what it is all about.”
“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 it’s spectacular.”
“The demon that you can swallow gives you its power, and the greater life’s pain, the greater life’s reply.”
“Where you stumble and fall, there you will find gold.”
“There is perhaps nothing worse than reaching the top of the ladder and discovering that you’re on the wrong wall.”
“I don’t believe people are looking for the meaning of life as much as they are looking for the experience of being alive.”
“Your life is the fruit of your own doing; you have no one to blame but yourself.”
“Opportunities to find deeper powers within ourselves come when life seems most challenging.”
“Find a place inside where there’s joy, and the joy will burn out the pain.”
“A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself.”
“You must have a room, or a certain hour or so a day, where you don’t know what was in the newspapers that morning, you don’t know who your friends are, you don’t know what you owe anybody, you don’t know what anybody owes to you. This is a place where you can simply experience and bring forth what you are and what you might be. This is the place of creative incubation. At first you may find that nothing happens there. But if you have a sacred place and use it, something eventually will happen.”
“Technology is not going to save us. Our computers, our tools, our machines are not enough. We have to rely on our intuition, our true being.”
“Life has no meaning. Each of us has meaning and we bring it to life. It is a waste to be asking the question when you are the answer.”
“When everything is lost, and all seems darkness, then comes the new life and all that is needed.”
“The demon that you can swallow gives you it’s power.”
“Life is like arriving late for a movie, having to figure out what was going on without bothering everybody with a lot of questions, and then being unexpectedly called away before you find out how it ends.”
“All the gods, all the heavens, all the hells, are within you.”
“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.”
“The goal of life is to make your heartbeat match the beat of the universe, to match your nature with Nature.”
“If you’re going to have a story, have a big story.” — Joseph Campbell
“Participate joyfully in the sorrows of life.”
“Those who think they know how the universe could have been had they created it, without pain, without sorrow, without time, without death, are unfit for illumination.”
“Your life is the fruit of your own doing, you have no one to blame but yourself.”
“You become mature when you become the authority of your own life.”
“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.”
“If the path before you is clear, you’re probably on someone else’s.”
“When we quit thinking primarily about ourselves and our own self-preservation we undergo a truly heroic transformation of consciousness.”
“If you do follow your bliss you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living.”
“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. That’s why it’s your path.”
“The achievement of the hero is one that he is ready for and it’s really a manifestation of his character. It’s amusing the way in which the landscape and conditions of the environment match the readiness of the hero. The adventure that he is ready for is the one that he gets.”
“Not all who hesitate are lost. The psyche has many secrets in reserve. And these are not disclosed unless required.”
“We can choose to live in joy.”
“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. -”
“If you are falling….dive.”
“The black moment is the moment when the real message of transformation is going to come. At the darkest moment comes the light.”
“The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.”
“To find your own way is to follow your bliss. This involves analysis, watching yourself and seeing where real deep bliss is – not the quick little excitement, but the real deep, life-filling bliss.”
“You are the hero of your own story.”
“Your life is the fruit of your own doing. You have no one to blame but yourself.”
“If you are falling, dive.”
“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.”
“The experience of eternity right here and now is the function of life. Heaven is not the place to have the experience; here is the place to have the experience.”’
“Find a place inside where there’s joy, and the joy will burn out the pain.”
“And all you have to do to transform your hell into a paradise is to turn your fall into a voluntary act. It’s a very interesting shift of perspective and that’s all it is… joyful participation in the sorrows and everything changes.”
“The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are.”
“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.”
“That step, the heroic first step of the journey, is out of, or over the edge of your boundaries, and it often must be taken before you know that you will be supported.”
“You enter the forest at the darkest point, where there is no path. Where there is a way or path, it is someone else’s path. You are not on your own path. If you follow someone else’s way, you are not going to realize your potential. ”
“Your sacred space is where you can find yourself over and over again.”
“If you’re going to have a story, have a big story.”
“Whether you call someone a hero or a monster is all relative to where the focus of your consciousness may be.”
“Follow your bliss and don’t be afraid, and doors will open where you didn’t know they were going to be.”
“One way or another, we all have to find what best fosters the flowering of our humanity in this contemporary life, and dedicate ourselves to that.”
“The big question is whether you are going to be able to say a hearty yes to your adventure.”
“We’re so engaged in doing things to achieve purposes of outer value that we forget the inner value, the rapture that is associated with being alive, is what it is all about.”
“The ultimate dragon is within you, it is your ego clamping you down.”
“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 it’s spectacular.”
