Joseph Campbell Quests Quotations

For those in whom a local mythology still works, there is an experience both of accord with the social order, and of harmony with the universe. For those, however, in whom the authorized signs no longer work-or, if working, produce deviant effects-there follows inevitably a sense both of dissociation from the local social nexus and of quest, within and without, for life, which the brain will take to be for 'meaning'.

The quest for fire occurred not because anyone knew what the practical uses for fire would be, but because it was fascinating.

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