A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself.
Joseph Campbell

Computers are like Old Testament gods; lots of rules and no mercy.
Joseph Campbell

Every religion is true one way or another. It is true when understood metaphorically. But when it gets stuck in its own metaphors, interpreting them as facts, then you are in trouble.
Joseph Campbell

Find a place inside where there's joy, and the joy will burn out the pain.
Joseph Campbell

Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors where there were only walls.
Joseph Campbell

God is a metaphor for that which transcends all levels of intellectual thought. It's as simple as that.
Joseph Campbell

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

I don't have to have faith, I have experience.
Joseph Campbell

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.
Joseph Campbell

Is the system going to flatten you out and deny you your humanity, or are you going to be able to make use of the system to the attainment of human purposes?
Joseph Campbell


It is by going down into the abyss that we recover the treasures of life. Where you stumble, there lies your treasure.
Joseph Campbell

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

Love is a friendship set to music.
Joseph Campbell

Myths are public dreams, dreams are private myths.
Joseph Campbell

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.
Joseph Campbell

Opportunities to find deeper powers within ourselves come when life seems most challenging.
Joseph Campbell

Participate joyfully in the sorrows of the world. We cannot cure the world of sorrows, but we can choose to live in joy.
Joseph Campbell

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

The goal of life is to make your heartbeat match the beat of the universe, to match your nature with Nature.
Joseph Campbell

The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are.
Joseph Campbell