The ultimate aim of the quest… must be neither release nor ecstasy for oneself, but wisdom and power to serve others.

About Joseph Campbell

Joseph John Campbell (March 26, 1904 – October 30, 1987) was an American writer. He was a professor of literature at Sarah Lawrence College who worked in comparative mythology and comparative religion. His work covers many aspects of the human condition. Campbell's best-known work is his book The Hero with...

More quotations from Joseph Campbell

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

—Joseph Campbell

To expect too much compassion from yourself might be a little destructive of your own existence. Even so, at least make a try, and this goes not only for individuals but also for life itself. It's so easy. It's a fashionable idiocy of youth to say the world has not come up to your expectations. "What? I was coming, and this is all they could prepare for me?" Throw it out. Have compassion for the world and those in it.

—Joseph Campbell

existence compassion

Love is a friendship set to music.

—Joseph Campbell

If we think of ourselves as coming out of the earth, rather than having been thrown in here from somewhere else, we see that we are the earth; we are the consciousness of the earth. These are the eyes of the earth. And this is the voice of the earth.

—Joseph Campbell

perspective eyes earth consciousness

We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.

—Joseph Campbell

planning

History

23 Nov 2014 Added
26 Oct 2026 Wording changed

Previous wording

The ultimate aim of the quest . . . must be neither release nor ecstasy for oneself, but wisdom and power to serve others.