938 Quotes by Joseph Campbell

The departure from the world is regarded not as a fault, but as the first step into that noble path at the remotest turn of which illumination is to be won.

You know, I didn't write my books for critics and scholars. I wrote them for students and artists. When I hear how much my work has meant to them--well, I can't tell you how happy that makes me. That means that this great stuff of myth, which I have been so privileged to work with, will be kept alive for a whole new generation. That's the function of the artists, you know, to reinterpret the old stories and make them come alive again, in poetry, painting, and now in movies.

If you can see your path clearly in front of you, it's probably someone else's.

For we have not even to risk the adventure alone, for the heros of all time have gone before us...

Passion will move men beyond themselves, beyond their shortcomings, beyond their failures.

The big question is whether you are going to be able to say a hearty yes to your adventure.

Heroism is a matter of integrity--beco ming more and more at each step ourselves.

The function of ritual... is to give form to the human life, not in the way of a mere surface arrangement, but in depth.

The conquest of fear yields the courage of life. That is the cardinal initiation of every heroic adventure-- fearlessness and achievement.