The priests used to say that faith can move mountains, and nobody believed them. Today the scientists say that they can level mountains, and nobody doubts them.
Joseph CampbellThis is an important point about symbols: they do not refer to historical events; they refer through historical events to spiritual or psychological principles and powers that are of yesterday, today, and tomorrow, and that are everywhere.
Joseph CampbellWhat is a god? A god is a personification of a motivating power of a value system that functions in human life and in the universe.
Joseph CampbellWe have to permit go with the everyday living we had prepared so as to have the lifetime that's watching for us
Joseph CampbellI think of mythology as a function of biology; the energies of the body are the energies that move the imagination. These energies are the source, then, of mythological imagery; in a mythological organization of symbols, the conflicts between the different organic impulses within the body are resolved and harmonized. You might say mythology is a formula for the harmonization of the energies of life.
Joseph Campbell