Heros Journey Quotes

Purpose is the reason you're on this journey. Passion is the torch that lights your way. ~ Will Craig, Living The Hero's Journey

The hero's journey is simply who we are as human beings ... ~ Elizabeth Gilbert

You may not have signed up for a hero's journey, but the second you fell down, got your butt kicked, suffered a disappointment, screwed up, or felt your heart break, it started. It doesn't matter whether we are ready for an emotional adventure - hurt happens. And it happens to every single one of us. Without exception. The only decision we get to make is what role we'll play in our own lives: Do we want to write the story or do we want to hand that power over to someone else? Choosing to write our own story means getting uncomfortable; it's choosing courage over comfort. ~ Brene Brown

There's only one problem with the hero's journey, it never included women. ~ Elizabeth Gilbert

The hero's journey can take place on a battlefield or in a cubicle. We can live it out amid public clamor or in the soundless vault between our ears. The demons we are dueling are always the same. They are our own fears of becoming who we are. No one who has ever lived - or ever will - has a journey like ours. And yet our journey is universal. It is every woman's and every man's. ~ Steven Pressfield

Buoyant leadership is not a management technique, it's a leadership principle based on the belief that leading isn't presiding, it's taking people on a journey, and on any hero's journey there will be a setback. ~ Kevin Allen

As much as I love to dive into the action early, I think the hero's journey is important - the idea that the reader needs to experience the protagonist's everyday life before you turn that world upside down. ~ Kami Garcia

Change is the currency of a life well lived. How are you spending yours? ~ Will Craig, Living The Hero's Journey

We tell each other stories so we can understand the world better and there's catharsis and we understand the models of what a hero could be and what the hero's journey as a human being is all about. But unfortunately, I think sometimes those stories too can be very prohibitive and confining. ~ Chris Pine

The mythology of Doctor Who has built into it the continuation, evolution, and longevity of the character's mythical qualities through his regenerative process. I have to agree with Lou Anders, when he states: "Doctor Who is the truest expression of Joseph Campbell's Hero with a Thousand Faces ever conceived. The idea of an alien, come down to earth, repeatedly dying and resurrecting for the salvation of others is as close to the perpetual reenactment of the eternal Hero's Journey as you can hope to find."(6) ~ Anthony S. Burdge

We find a model for learning how to live in stories about heroism. The heroic quest is about saying yes to yourself and, in so doing, becoming more fully alive and more effective in the world. For the hero's journey is first about taking a journey to find the treasure of your true self, and then about returning home to give your gift to help transform the kingdom- and, in the process, your own life. The quest itself is replete with dangers and pitfalls, but if offers great rewards: the capacity to be successful in the world, knowledge of the mysteries of the human soul, the opportunity to find and express your unique gifts in the world, and to live in loving community with other people. ~ Carol S. Pearson

To evolve out of this position of psychological immaturity to the courage of self-responsibility and assurance requires a death and a resurrection. That's the basic motif of the universal hero's journey - leaving one condition and finding the source of life to bring you forth into a richer or mature condition. ~ Joseph Campbell

A good metaphor is worth a thousand pictures. ~ Will Craig, Living The Hero's Journey

I've been playing with this idea in my mind that the hero's journey that we're all taught as screenwriters may resonate more specifically for male protagonists and maybe even male viewers. ~ Jill Soloway

I prefer the gradual path My feeling is that mythic forms reveal themselves gradually in the course of your life if you know what they are and how to pay attention to their emergence. My own initiation into the mythic depths of the unconscious has been through the mind, through the books that surround me in this library. I have recognized in my quest all the stages of the hero's journey. I had my calls to adventure, my guides, demons, and illuminations. ~ Joseph Campbell

At its heart, Gothic Fiction is the introvert's "Hero's Journey" where heroes and heroines must navigate the uncharted territory of the mind in order to solve the mystery of their life's adventure. ~ Barrymore Tebbs

Wisdom accumulates in the cracks of personal experience and the crevices of bad judgments. ~ Will Craig, Living The Hero's Journey

I've always believed growing up that the story of the hero is the journey of weakness to strength. But writing about Gus taught me that the real hero's journey is the journey from strength to weakness, and that was a very helpful thing for me to realise in trying to tell his story, so I felt like that was kind of the gift that he gave me. ~ John Green

That's always been part of my goal - to show the dark side of women. Men write about bad men all the time, and they're called antiheroes. ... What I read and what I go to the movies for is not to find a best friend, not to find inspirations, not necessarily for a hero's journey. It's to be involved with characters that are maybe incredibly different from me, that may be incredibly bad but that feel authentic. ~ Gillian Flynn

The journey of Marco Polo is the hero's journey, one that all cultures across the globe can relate to. ~ John Fusco

A certain amount of friction is necessary in our lives to provide enough heat to mold our minds and cast our mettle to shape the legend we become. ~ Will Craig, Living The Hero's Journey

Accountability is the glue that bonds commitment to results. ~ Will Craig, Living The Hero's Journey

Think of the hero's journey as perceived by Joseph Campbell. The mythical hero, usually an unlikely male, undertakes a physical journey to an unknown land. One the way, he is faced with a series of challenges that he can meet only through his superior physical strength and cunning. If he succeeds in getting through all the barriers, he wins the prize, which he can then take home for the benefit of his people.

Although this model has some application to the experience of women, it is not adequate to describe what a woman must do in order to live beyond the stultifying expectations of the culture in which she's raised. If she has small children, she can't take a trip or move to a new place, and very rarely is she called upon to beat down her opponent with force. Instead, her journey is an inner one where the demons are her demons of the self. Her task as the heroine is to return from her inner journey and share her knowledge, wisdom, and energy with the people around her. ~ Helen LaKelly Hunt

The hero's journey always begins with the call. One way or another, a guide must come to say, 'Look, you're in Sleepy Land. Wake. Come on a trip. There is a whole aspect of your consciousness, your being, that's not been touched. So you're at home here? Well, there's not enough of you there.' And so it starts. ~ Joseph Campbell

When the hero is ready, the mentor appears. ~ Will Craig, Living The Hero's Journey

And so Galahad decided that it would be a disgrace to set off on a quest with the other knights. Alone he would enter the dark forest where there was no path. This is the myth of The Hero's Journey. ~ Joseph Campbell

Ever since I first read Midori Snyder's essay, 'The Armless Maiden and the Hero's Journey' in The Journal of Mythic Arts, I couldn't stop thinking about that particular strand of folklore and the application of its powerful themes to the lives of young women. There are many different versions of the tale from around the world, and the 'Armless Maiden' or 'Handless Maiden' are just two of the more familiar. But whatever the title, we are essentially talking about a narrative that speaks of the power of transformation – and, perhaps more significantly when writing young adult fantasy, the power of the female to transform herself. It's a rite of passage; something that mirrors the traditional journey from adolescence to adulthood.

Common motifs of the stories include – and I am simplifying pretty drastically here – the violent loss of hands or arms for the girl of the title, and their eventual re-growth as she slowly regains her autonomy and independence. In many accounts there is a halfway point in the story where a magician builds a temporary replacement pair of hands for the girl, magical hands and arms that are usually made entirely of silver. What I find interesting is that this isn't where the story ends; the gaining of silver hands simply marks the beginning of a whole new test for our heroine. ~ Karen Mahoney

How does ANY male-identified person know he is a man? And does my answer really diverge greatly from how many men, trans or cisgender, would answer?

Transgender people are often said to have a 'narrative' to their lives; we're encouraged to see our journey toward recognizing our gender as a story with an articulable pattern. The truth is, though, that everyone's gender is a story; it's just that trans folks are more likely to be - perhaps I could say "are given the gift of having to be" - aware of it.

The story of becoming a man, a woman, or a person of any other gender often follows aspects of that most instinctual of story arcs: the hero's journey. For instance, my personal narrative was one of effort in seeking a transformative goal (a quest), assistance (tools provided by medicine, law, and intangible emotional support), and mentorship by those who went before me (guides). And my manhood was ultimately achieved through what could be considered rites of passage - which is to say a similar structure to communal cultural tales of how one achieves cisgender manhood. It's simply some details that vary.

I do see one key difference in how all this plays out, however: Trans men make this invisible process disconcertingly visible by flipping the variables. While a cisgender man may be born with certain inherent potentials to physically embody a manhood that others will acknowledge socially, he's not necessarily imbued with the demanding dri ~ Mitch Ellis

For me, the hero's journey is not the voyage from weakness to strength. The true hero's journey is the voyage from strength to weakness. ~ John Green

The death of the idealized versions of our parents, teachers, and mentors - a stage in the hero's journey - is always scary because it means that we're now responsible for our own learning and growth. That death is also beautiful because it makes room for new relationships - more honest connections between authentic adults who are doing the best they can. Of course, these new connections require emotional and physical safety. We can't be vulnerable and open with people who are hurting us. ~ Brené Brown,

If we restructure things to see that the hero's journey is a degree in astrophysics rather than a journey to star in a reality show, that's a better world. ~ John Green

Our date with destiny is not about reaching the destination. It is about how fully we live the journey. ~ Will Craig, Living The Hero's Journey

I guess that's the thing about a hero's journey. You might not start out a hero, and you might not even come back that way. But you change, which is the same as everything changing. The journey changes you, whether or not you know it, and whether or not you want it to. I had changed. ~ Kami Garcia

Life is the proving ground of an evolving soul. ~ Will Craig, Living The Hero's Journey

The wu in wuxia means both "to cut" and "to stop." It also refers to the weapon - usually a sword - carried by the assassin, the hero of the story. The genre became very popular during the Song Dynasty [960–1279]. These stories often depicted a soldier in revolt, usually against a corrupt political leader. In order to stop corruption and the killing of innocent people, the hero must become an assassin. So wuxia stories are concerned with the premise of ending violence with violence. Although their actions are motivated by political reasons, the hero's journey is epic and transformative - physically, emotionally, and spiritually. In the Tang Dynasty, a prominent poet named Li Bai wrote some verses about an assassin. This is the earliest example I know of wuxia literature. Gradually, the genre gave shape to ideas and stories that had been percolating in historical and mythological spheres. Although these stories were often inspired by real events of the past, to me they feel very contemporary and relevant.

It's one of the oldest genres in Chinese literature, and there are countless wuxia novels today. I began to immerse myself in these novels when I was in elementary school, and they quickly became my favorite things to read. I started with newer books and worked my way back to the earliest writing from the Tang Dynasty. ~ Hou Hsiao-hsien

May you listen to the voice within the beat even when you are tired. When you feel yourself breaking down, may you break open instead. May every experience in life be a door that opens your heart, expands your understanding, and leads you to freedom. If you are weary, may you be aroused by passion and purpose. If you are blameful and bitter, may you be sweetened by hope and humor. If you are frightened, may you be emboldened by a big consciousness far wiser than your fear. If you are lonely, may you find love, may you find friendship. If you are lost, may you understand that we are all lost, and still we are guided - by Strange Angels and Sleeping Giants, by our better and kinder natures, by the vibrant voice within the beat. May you follow that voice, for This is the way - the hero's journey, the life worth living, the reason we are here. ~ Elizabeth Lesser

And now
after everything:
I know this:
There is a reason
I am here.
And that reason
is bigger than me.
So I will carry on
with great faith
beyond what I can see.
in pursuit of bold courage,
on the adventure
of the journey. ~ Morgan Harper Nichols

The goal of this book is do for you what Greg did for me: reframe 26.2 miles as accessible and inspire your first marathon journey, one mile at a time. ~ Gina Greenlee

Life is a river," a wise friend told me. "It's flowing. You're never at the same place twice. ~ Kamal Ravikant

Once upon a time Audrey had believed that her life was set of a clear path and that any diversion led to a complete derailment. Only now did she realize that those moments of change were not an ending but a beginning: a chance for a different kind of life, a different kind of journey, a different form of happiness" (p. 348) ~ Hannah Beckerman

God has just given me such an amazing journey and able to play; it's been so much fun. I'm having a blast! ~ Bailee Madison

Your Soul is your ultimate guidance system. You can think of your Soul as the compass, map, and destination all in one. ~ Aletheia Luna

The journey from first breath to death has nothing to do with miracles, how much you pray, coincidences, or divine intervention. Sometimes ~ Colleen Hoover

All journeys meet crossroads. Where the river ends, the ocean begins. We must have the courage to embark on these journeys, to choose our paths, and to let go of the boat once we are across the river. ~ Thomas Lloyd Qualls

How we sit within the body is an extremely important part of the spiritual journey. The body itself is used either by the spirit within us, or by the fear-based mind. When it is used by the spirit, then it is a thing of holiness. How we dwell within it, how we treat it, and how we use it in relationship to other aspects of the planet is extremely important. When we use the body without reverence, we are destructive elements on the planet. We become destructive to ourselves, to other life forms, and to the earth. ~ Marianne Williamson

The bell of Limehouse Church rang as each of them, in this house, drifted into sleep - suddenly once more like children who, exhausted by the day's adventures, fall asleep quickly and carelessly. A solitary visitor, watching them as they slept, might wonder how it was that they had arrived at such a state and might speculate about each stage of their journey towards it: when did he first start muttering to himself, and not realise that he was doing so? When did she first begin to shy away from others and seek the shadows? When did all of them come to understand that whatever hopes they might have had were foolish, and that life was something only to be endured? Those who wander are always objects of suspicion and sometimes even of fear: the four people gathered in this house by the church had passed into a place, one might almost say a time, from which there was no return. The young man who had been bent over the fire had spent his life in a number of institutions - an orphanage, a juvenile home and most recently a prison; the old woman still clutching the brown bottle was an alcoholic who had abandoned her husband and two children many years before; the old man had taken to wandering after the death of his wife in a fire which he believed, at the time, he might have prevented. And what of Ned, who was now muttering in his sleep? ~ Peter Ackroyd

I have walked enough to see how life treats us differently in the same situation again & again ...
Journey from unknown to known ~ Adil Adam Memon

Your
comfort
is not
more
important
than
my journey
to healing.
- I will never live a life of quiet again. ~ Amanda Lovelace

We are all, in our journey through life, navigating toward some special, dreamed-of place, and if for some reason we are thrown off course, or the place itself, once reached, is not what we hoped for, then we must strike out at whatever risk to set things right. ~ Rachel Cusk

The paths by which people journey toward happiness lie in part through the world about them and in part through the experience of their own soul. ~ Carl Hilty

the journey across the great ocean of existence Is a journey inward ever in deeper and deeper and the deeper you get in the more you meet truth ~ Ram Dass

The problems presented by difficult individuals contribute to your growth and evolution - another reason for filling yourself with gratitude, appreciation, and love! ~ Susan Barbara Apollon

Our journey is about faith. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Not the proving of such things. ~ James Rollins

If your hero's backstory is more interesting than their present story, you're writing the wrong book. ~ Kristen Kieffer

Our Pioneers and Trailblazers who dared to make the journey into the unknown have given us the courage to break out of our comfort zone to dare to be unique, magnificent, phenomenal; and have set ideals to stand for the power of truth. ~ Charlena E. Jackson

Life without strife is a rose without thorns.
Alive as one is thriving today towards tomorrow,
Nowhere is the past but simply a school of memory.
Dreams, wishes, goals then becomes a wheel of "wills,"
Spirit of a unique being on each soul breathing.
Care to ponder some matter or another?
Awareness sliding towards discovery gliding…
Peace, contentment, fulfillment,
Enwrapped like a mirage enchantment.
Soaring freely, excitingly, happily home-love-bound!


Over precious moments in a breathing of a soul,
Flowing high emotions, feelings, hearts in bliss.


All around any season of one's existence, one asks:
"Anyone out there?
A heart of a soul that didn't harden?
A touch of a soul that didn't hurt?
A life of a soul that didn't love?"


Sands of time, rough, warm, indefinite,
simply spreading, transforming, mounting.
Oasis of a soul from a desert journey,
flourishing with endless beauty and security.
Utmost bliss, fulfillment and contentment,
under covers a struggling, hopeful soul,
Laboring service, living justice,
loving peace and tranquillity passed on to humanity!� ~ Angelica Hopes

Why do we need to pray? Because the Christian life is a journey, and we need God's strength and guidance along the way. ~ Billy Graham

True success is not a project but a journey. ~ Myles Munroe

We found in the course of our journey the convenience of having disencumbered ourselves, by laying aside whatever we could spare; for it is not to be imagined without experience, how in climbing crags and treading bogs, and winding through narrow and obstructed passages, a little bulk will hinder, and a little weight will burden; or how often a man that has pleased himself at home with his own resolution, will, in the hour of darkness and fatigue, be content to leave behind him everything but himself. ~ Samuel Johnson

Go now. Our journey is done. And may we meet again, in the clearing, at the end of the path. ~ Stephen King

The journey pathways are best known by the traveler. ~ Lailah Gifty Akita

Love is many things. It is silence within the whisper between softened lips. It is the bond that connects through unspoken words of hands holding on to each other. It is the 'I love you, see you soon' that brings upon the lush of warming hearts that tie together. Love is confusion mixed in with mysterious delight. Love is the path that can go many directions in your journey. You will reach so many unexpected turns but then it is the path you find that brings you to the top of the hill, with that rising sun and glow that connects your souls with the greatest of love and all the deepest pleasures that make your heart beat a little faster, smile more easy and reading each others soul through the look of bliss-filled eyes. Love can take your heart to many places, especially unexpected craziness. But all in all, love has one thing in common - it binds the true hearts that belong together and does work in mysterious, but delightful ways."
Copyright © 2013 Amy Masella --- Illinois ~ Kittie Blessed

We are all on a journey...whether we know it or not. ~ Cherrie Amour

Shamanic healing is a journey. It involves stepping out of our habitual roles, our conventional scripts, and improvising a dancing path. ~ Gabrielle Roth

In your journey of life, stick to relevance, don't stay stuck! Keep improving yourself until your opportunity comes. ~ Bidemi Mark-Mordi

Not too long ago thousands spent their lives as recluses to find spiritual vision in the solitude of nature. Modern man need not become a hermit to achieve this goal, for it is neither ecstasy nor world-estranged mysticism his era demands, but a balance between quantitative and qualitative reality. Modern man, with his reduced capacity for intuitive perception, is unlikely to benefit from the contemplative life of a hermit in the wilderness. But what he can do is to give undivided attention, at times, to a natural phenomenon, observing it in detail, and recalling all the scientific facts about it he may remember. Gradually, however, he must silence his thoughts and, for moments at least, forget all his personal cares and desires, until nothing remains in his soul but awe for the miracle before him. Such efforts are like journeys beyond the boundaries of narrow self-love and, although the process of intuitive awakening is laborious and slow, its rewards are noticeable from the very first. If pursued through the course of years, something will begin to stir in the human soul, a sense of kinship with the forces of life consciousness which rule the world of plants and animals, and with the powers which determine the laws of matter. While analytical intellect may well be called the most precious fruit of the Modern Age, it must not be allowed to rule supreme in matters of cognition. If science is to bring happiness and real progress to the world, it needs the warmth of man's heart ~ Franz Winkler

Disciplined runners consistently clear their heads and focus fully on the journey ahead..because their passion and zeal for the goal supersedes the strain. The goal beckons them onward. Passion doesn't negate weariness; it just resolves to press beyond it. ~ Priscilla Shirer

The story of Bennet Omalu is a riveting story; it's just a riveting tale. I knew from the beginning if I stayed close to that kind of storytelling and focussed on the character, then the other stuff comes along with it, and the message becomes baked into the journey. ~ Peter Landesman

Dreaming is a journey through wonder, surprise, and freedom. ~ Anthony Lawlor