--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Every myth is psychologically symbolic…" description: "\"Every myth is psychologically symbolic. Its narratives and images are to be read, therefore, not literally, but as metaphors.\" — Joseph Campbell" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/db0/joseph-campbell-300_metaphor_every-myth-is-psychologically-symbolic-i_1596136.png" --- # Every myth is psychologically symbolic. Its narratives and… ![“Every myth is psychologically symbolic. Its narratives and images are to be read, therefore, not literally, but as metaphors.” quote by Joseph Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/db0/joseph-campbell-300_metaphor_every-myth-is-psychologically-symbolic-i_1596136.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/db0/joseph-campbell-300_metaphor_every-myth-is-psychologically-symbolic-i_1596136.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/db0/joseph-campbell-300_metaphor_every-myth-is-psychologically-symbolic-i_1596136.png) > “Every myth is psychologically symbolic. Its narratives and images are to be read, therefore, not literally, but as metaphors.” [Joseph Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-campbell/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Myths convey deep psychological truths through symbolic stories, not literal facts. **In simple terms:** Myths are symbolic, not literal. Key Takeaway Interpret myths as metaphors. Themes mythology psychology symbolism Mood introspective inspirational Type educational inspirational When to use this quote - therapy - education - creative writing Key Concepts Archetypes collective unconscious Questions to Reflect On - What personal insights can you draw from a myth? - How do symbols shape your worldview? A Different Perspective Literal reading misses deeper meaning. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Literally Metaphors](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/literally-metaphors-6059121/) [Metaphor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/metaphor/) [Myth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/myth/) [Myth Psychologically](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/myth-psychologically-6059118/) [Narrative](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/narrative/) [Psychologically Symbolic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/psychologically-symbolic-6059119/) [Storytelling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/storytelling/) [Symbolic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/symbolic/) [Symbolic Narratives](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/symbolic-narratives-6059120/) ## Related quotes > [Look who's calling the cauldron black." "Kettle. It’s a kettle. Get your metaphors right." "That wasn’t a metaphor. It was a, you know..." He…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richelle-mead/look-who-s-calling-the-cauldron-black-kettle-it-s-a-kettle-get-your/) [Richelle Mead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richelle-mead/) > [We keep thinking of deity as a kind of fact, somewhere; God as a fact. God is simply our own notion of something that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-campbell/we-keep-thinking-of-deity-as-a-kind-of-fact-somewhere-god-as-a-fact/) [Joseph Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-campbell/) > [Dream is personalized myth, myth is depersonalized dream; both myth and dream are symbolic in the same general way of the dynamics of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-campbell/dream-is-personalized-myth-myth-is-depersonalized-dream-both-myth-and/) [Joseph Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-campbell/) > [Dream is the personalized myth, myth the depersonalized dream; both myth and dream are symbolic in the same general way of the dynamic of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-campbell/dream-is-the-personalized-myth-myth-the-depersonalized-dream-both/) [Joseph Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-campbell/) > [Myths are the world's dreams. They are archetypal dreams and deal with great human problems. Myths and dreams come from the same place. They…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-campbell/myths-are-the-world-s-dreams-they-are-archetypal-dreams-and-deal-with/) [Joseph Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-campbell/) > [Half the people in the world think that the metaphors of their religious traditions, for example, are facts. And the other half contends that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-campbell/half-the-people-in-the-world-think-that-the-metaphors-of-their/) [Joseph Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-campbell/) > [Don't forget that costumes, like dreams, are symbolic communication. Dreams teach us that a language for everything exists - for every object, every color…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/federico-fellini/don-t-forget-that-costumes-like-dreams-are-symbolic-communication/) [Federico Fellini](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/federico-fellini/) > [It's going to be a symbolic thing. But for me, they did enough.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rosie-ruiz/it-s-going-to-be-a-symbolic-thing-but-for-me-they-did-enough/) [Rosie Ruiz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rosie-ruiz/) > [Symbolic violence is violence wielded with tacit complicity between its victims and its agents, insofar as both remain unconscious of submitting to or wielding…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-bourdieu/symbolic-violence-is-violence-wielded-with-tacit-complicity-between/) [Pierre Bourdieu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-bourdieu/) > [Fiction is an illusion wrought with many small, conventionally symbolic marks, triggering visions in the minds of others](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/fiction-is-an-illusion-wrought-with-many-small-conventionally/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [I find it profoundly symbolic that I am appearing before a committee of fifteen men who will report to a legislative body of one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/letty-cottin-pogrebin/i-find-it-profoundly-symbolic-that-i-am-appearing-before-a-committee/) [Letty Cottin Pogrebin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/letty-cottin-pogrebin/) > [Today there is no symbolic compensation for old age, no recognition of a specific value: wisdom, perceptiveness, experience, vision.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roland-barthes/today-there-is-no-symbolic-compensation-for-old-age-no-recognition-of/) [Roland Barthes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roland-barthes/) > [ No one suffers so much as he \[the genius\] with the people, and, therefore, for the people, with whom he lives. For, in a… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/otto-weininger/no-one-suffers-so-much-as-he-the-genius-with-the-people-and-therefore/) [Otto Weininger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/otto-weininger/) > [The personal, if it is deep enough, becomes universal, mythical, symbolic.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anais-nin/the-personal-if-it-is-deep-enough-becomes-universal-mythical-symbolic/) [Anais Nin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anais-nin/) > [People without an internalized symbolic system can all too easily become captives of the media.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mihaly-csikszentmihalyi/people-without-an-internalized-symbolic-system-can-all-too-easily/) [Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mihaly-csikszentmihalyi/) ## More by Joseph Campbell > [If a person does not listen to the demands of their own spiritual and heart life and insists on a certain program, you're going…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-campbell/if-a-person-does-not-listen-to-the-demands-of-their-own-spiritual-and/) [Joseph Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-campbell/) > [The last act in the biography of the hero is that of the death or departure.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-campbell/the-last-act-in-the-biography-of-the-hero-is-that-of-the-death-or/) [Joseph Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-campbell/) > [The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-campbell/the-privilege-of-a-lifetime-is-being-who-you-are/) [Joseph Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-campbell/) > [The eternal principle, which never was born, never will die: it is in all things: it is in you now. You are the wave…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-campbell/the-eternal-principle-which-never-was-born-never-will-die-it-is-in/) [Joseph Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-campbell/) > [How do you find the divine power in yourself? The word enthusiasm means 'filled with a god,' so what makes you enthusiastic? Follow it.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-campbell/how-do-you-find-the-divine-power-in-yourself-the-word-enthusiasm/) [Joseph Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-campbell/) > [What we're learning in our schools is not the wisdom of life. We're learning technologies, we're getting information. There's a curious reluctance on the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-campbell/what-we-re-learning-in-our-schools-is-not-the-wisdom-of-life-we-re/) [Joseph Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-campbell/) > [ The fall \[of your soul\] from perfection into duality...was naturally followed by the discovery of the duality of good and evil...This is the Biblical… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-campbell/the-fall-of-your-soul-from-perfection-into-duality-was-naturally/) [Joseph Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-campbell/) > [So that's what destiny is: simply the fulfillment of the potentialites of the energies in your own system.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-campbell/so-that-s-what-destiny-is-simply-the-fulfillment-of-the-potentialites/) [Joseph Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-campbell/) > [Your ego is your embodiment and your self is your potentiality and that's what you listen to when you listen for the voice of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-campbell/your-ego-is-your-embodiment-and-your-self-is-your-potentiality-and/) [Joseph Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-campbell/) > [When you follow your bliss a kind of track opens up, that's always been there, waiting for you. And the life that you should…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-campbell/when-you-follow-your-bliss-a-kind-of-track-opens-up-that-s-always/) [Joseph Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-campbell/) > [The best we can do is lean towards the light.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-campbell/the-best-we-can-do-is-lean-towards-the-light/) [Joseph Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-campbell/) > [I think of mythology as the homeland of the muses, the inspirers of art, the inspirers of poetry. To see life as a poem…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-campbell/i-think-of-mythology-as-the-homeland-of-the-muses-the-inspirers-of/) [Joseph Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-campbell/) > [When you are falling --- Dive!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-campbell/when-you-are-falling-dive/) [Joseph Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-campbell/) > [We're all seeking...the rapture of being alive.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-campbell/we-re-all-seeking-the-rapture-of-being-alive/) [Joseph Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-campbell/) > [Both the artist and the lover know that perfection is not loveable. It is the clumsiness of a fault that makes a person lovable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-campbell/both-the-artist-and-the-lover-know-that-perfection-is-not-loveable-it/) [Joseph Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-campbell/) [Explore all 711 Joseph Campbell quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-campbell/) ## More Metaphor quotes > [I think zombies have always been an easy metaphor for hard times. Because they're this big, faceless, brainless group of evil things that will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seth-grahame-smith/i-think-zombies-have-always-been-an-easy-metaphor-for-hard-times/) [Seth Grahame-Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seth-grahame-smith/) > [Helvetica is the jeans, and Univers the dinner jacket. Helvetica is here to stay.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrian-frutiger/helvetica-is-the-jeans-and-univers-the-dinner-jacket-helvetica-is/) [Adrian Frutiger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrian-frutiger/) > [“No algorithm exists for the metaphor, nor can a metaphor be produced by means of a computer’s precise instructions, no matter what the volume…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/umberto-eco/no-algorithm-exists-for-the-metaphor-nor-can-a-metaphor-be-produced/) [Umberto Eco](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/umberto-eco/) > [“Despite which, Charlie seems doomed to stumble around in the dark, clutching pieces of a puzzle he still can't see.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/despite-which-charlie-seems-doomed-to-stumble-around-in-the-dark/) [Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/) > [I feel as much of a stud as... I can't come up with a metaphor. That's how lacking in studliness I am.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-feel-as-much-of-a-stud-as-i-can-t-come-up-with-a-metaphor-that-s/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Because you continue to inhabit and believe your metaphors, you cannot see what is true.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-p-young/because-you-continue-to-inhabit-and-believe-your-metaphors-you-cannot/) [William P. Young](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-p-young/) > [“The bag contained a pair of white cotton gloves stained the color of age.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sue-monk-kidd/the-bag-contained-a-pair-of-white-cotton-gloves-stained-the-color-of/) [Sue Monk Kidd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sue-monk-kidd/) > [“People think blood red, but blood don't got no colour. Not when blood wash the floor she lying on as she scream for that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marlon-james/people-think-blood-red-but-blood-don-t-got-no-colour-not-when-blood/) [Marlon James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marlon-james/) > [You know what’s a great metaphor for love? Sleeping beauty. Because you have to plow through this incredible thicket of thorns in order to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-levithan/you-know-what-s-a-great-metaphor-for-love-sleeping-beauty-because-you/) [David Levithan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-levithan/) > [There's something about the superheroes and the idea behind their relationship with humans, whether it's a metaphor for the better part of ourselves, or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clark-gregg/there-s-something-about-the-superheroes-and-the-idea-behind-their/) [Clark Gregg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clark-gregg/) > [The sense of tragedy - according to Aristotle - comes, ironically enough, not from the protagonist's weak points but from his good qualities. 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