--- title: "4 Mythology Quotes By Northrop Frye" description: "4 Mythology quotes by Northrop Frye. Plus more from Northrop Frye and more Mythology sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/845/northrop-frye-3483_books_every-human-society-possesses-a-mytholog_375451.png" --- > [Every human society possesses a mythology which is inherited, transmitted and diversified by literature.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/northrop-frye/every-human-society-possesses-a-mythology-which-is-inherited/) [Northrop Frye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/northrop-frye/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/845/northrop-frye-3483_books_every-human-society-possesses-a-mytholog_375451.png) > [The disinterested imaginative core of mythology is what develops into literature, science, philosophy. Religion is applied mythology.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/northrop-frye/the-disinterested-imaginative-core-of-mythology-is-what-develops-into/) [Northrop Frye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/northrop-frye/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/096/northrop-frye-3483_core_the-disinterested-imaginative-core-of-my_1160536.png) > [Literature is conscious mythology: as society develops, its mythical stories become structural principles of story-telling, its mythical concepts, sun-gods and the like,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/northrop-frye/literature-is-conscious-mythology-as-society-develops-its-mythical/) [Northrop Frye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/northrop-frye/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7c8/northrop-frye-3483_books_literature-is-conscious-mythology-as-soc_1419807.png) > [“Literature is still doing the same job that mythology did earlier, but filling in its huge cloudy shapes with sharper lights and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/northrop-frye/literature-is-still-doing-the-same-job-that-mythology-did-earlier-but/) [Northrop Frye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/northrop-frye/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0c7/northrop-frye-3483_books_literature-is-still-doing-the-same-job-t_2369343.png) ## Other authors on Mythology - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b014/author-joseph-campbell-53286.jpg) Joseph Campbell 46 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mythology/joseph-campbell/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b020/author-rick-riordan-79077.jpg) Rick Riordan 26 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mythology/rick-riordan/) - [Priya Ardis 21 quotes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mythology/priya-ardis/) - [Nely Cab 19 quotes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mythology/nely-cab/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b007/author-david-blackwell-27242.jpg) Amanda Bouchet 12 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mythology/amanda-bouchet/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b016/author-madeline-miller-62511.jpg) Madeline Miller 11 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mythology/madeline-miller/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b011/author-henry-david-thoreau-41473.jpg) Henry David Thoreau 9 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mythology/henry-david-thoreau/) - [Charleston Parker 8 quotes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mythology/charleston-parker/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b024/author-werner-herzog-94806.jpg) Werner Herzog 6 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mythology/werner-herzog/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b024/author-virgil-93863.jpg) Virgil 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mythology/virgil/) - [Thea Harrison 5 quotes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mythology/thea-harrison/) - [Steve Sabol 5 quotes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mythology/steve-sabol/) ## More by Northrop Frye > [I soon realized that a student of English literature who does not know the Bible does not understand a good deal of what is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/northrop-frye/i-soon-realized-that-a-student-of-english-literature-who-does-not/) [Northrop Frye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/northrop-frye/) > [Our country has shown a lack of will to resist its own disintegration .. . Canada is practically the only country left in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/northrop-frye/our-country-has-shown-a-lack-of-will-to-resist-its-own-disintegration/) [Northrop Frye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/northrop-frye/) > [“The only thing that words can do with any real precision or accuracy is hang together. Accuracy of description in language is not possible…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/northrop-frye/the-only-thing-that-words-can-do-with-any-real-precision-or-accuracy/) [Northrop Frye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/northrop-frye/) > [The bedrock of doubt is the total nothingness of death. Death is a leveler, not because everybody dies, but because nobody understands what death…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/northrop-frye/the-bedrock-of-doubt-is-the-total-nothingness-of-death-death-is-a/) [Northrop Frye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/northrop-frye/) > [Even the human heart is slightly left of centre.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/northrop-frye/even-the-human-heart-is-slightly-left-of-centre/) [Northrop Frye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/northrop-frye/) > [Physics is an organized body of knowledge about nature, and a student of it says that he is learning physics, not nature. Art, like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/northrop-frye/physics-is-an-organized-body-of-knowledge-about-nature-and-a-student/) [Northrop Frye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/northrop-frye/) > [Literature as a whole is not an aggregate of exhibits with red and blue ribbons attached to them, like a cat-show, but the range…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/northrop-frye/literature-as-a-whole-is-not-an-aggregate-of-exhibits-with-red-and/) [Northrop Frye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/northrop-frye/) > [One doesn't bother to believe the credible: the credible is believed already, by definition. There's no adventure of the mind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/northrop-frye/one-doesn-t-bother-to-believe-the-credible-the-credible-is-believed/) [Northrop Frye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/northrop-frye/) > [Culture's essential service to a religion is to destroy intellectual idolatry, the recurrent tendency in religion to replace the object of its worship with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/northrop-frye/culture-s-essential-service-to-a-religion-is-to-destroy-intellectual/) [Northrop Frye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/northrop-frye/) > [“Tendintele autoritate ale conservatorismului trebuie corectate prin mituri ale libertatii, in vreme ce un simt conservator al ordinii trebuie sa tempereze tendintele liberalismului spre…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/northrop-frye/tendintele-autoritate-ale-conservatorismului-trebuie-corectate-prin/) [Northrop Frye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/northrop-frye/) > [Literature is a human apocalypse, man's revelation to man, and criticism is not a body of adjudications, but the awareness of that revelation, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/northrop-frye/literature-is-a-human-apocalypse-man-s-revelation-to-man-and/) [Northrop Frye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/northrop-frye/) > [“The particular myth that's been organizing this talk, and in a way the whole series, is the story of the Tower of Babel in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/northrop-frye/the-particular-myth-that-s-been-organizing-this-talk-and-in-a-way-the/) [Northrop Frye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/northrop-frye/) > [Every human society possesses a mythology which is inherited, transmitted and diversified by literature.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/northrop-frye/every-human-society-possesses-a-mythology-which-is-inherited/) [Northrop Frye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/northrop-frye/) > [Science begins with the world we have to live in, accepting its data and trying to explain its laws. From there, it moves toward…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/northrop-frye/science-begins-with-the-world-we-have-to-live-in-accepting-its-data/) [Northrop Frye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/northrop-frye/) > [In the world of the imagination, anything goes that's imaginatively possible, but nothing really happens.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/northrop-frye/in-the-world-of-the-imagination-anything-goes-that-s-imaginatively/) [Northrop Frye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/northrop-frye/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mythology/northrop-frye/#itemlist", "name": "4 Mythology Quotes By Northrop Frye", "numberOfItems": 4, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Every human society possesses a mythology which is inherited, transmitted and diversified by literature.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Northrop Frye" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/northrop-frye/every-human-society-possesses-a-mythology-which-is-inherited/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/845/northrop-frye-3483_books_every-human-society-possesses-a-mytholog_375451.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/845/northrop-frye-3483_books_every-human-society-possesses-a-mytholog_375451.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/845/northrop-frye-3483_books_every-human-society-possesses-a-mytholog_375451.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Every human society possesses a mythology which is inherited, transmitted and diversified by literature.” — Northrop Frye", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The disinterested imaginative core of mythology is what develops into literature, science, philosophy. 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