How we cite our quotes: (Page.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Human beings are born too soon; they are unfinished, unready as yet to meet the world. (5.2)
This is a fancy way of saying that who we are isn't determined by our birth, but instead by the things that happen to us. Trouble is, sometimes those things come barreling up to us like a brick wall.
Quote #2
The composite hero of the monomyth is a personage of exceptional gifts. Frequently he is honored by his society, frequently unrecognized or disdained. (35.1)
So, um, which is it? Actually it's both. Sometimes, the hero comes from humble roots and nobody notices him or her (think Luke Skywalker or Katniss Everdeen). Sometimes they're great big celebrities, like Iron Man or Bruce Wayne. There's a lot of either/ors like that in Campbell's writing. Good news is that both kinds can still go on the Hero's Journey.
Quote #3
Nevertheless, in the multitude of myths and legends that have been preserved to us, or collected from the ends of the earth, we may yet see delineated something of our still human course. To hear and profit, however, one may have to submit somehow to purgation and surrender. (96.1)
This is a central irony in Campbell's work: in order to learn who you are, you have to give up who you are. Only surrendering your identity can show you your real one. As you may have guessed, it doesn't take place without a lot of kicking and screaming. Luckily, "kicking and screaming" makes for great stories.
Quote #4
The mythological figure of the Universal Mother imputes to the cosmos the feminine attributes of the first, nourishing and protecting presence. The fantasy is primarily spontaneous; for there exists a close and obvious correspondence between the attitude of the young child toward its mother and that of the adult toward the surrounding material world. (103.3)
Time for some Freud! Campbell is arguing here that we gain our identity in part by the reactions of the world around us, and since our mother is the first interaction we have with the world, she's kind of the big warm-up. Also, pay attention to the way Campbell connects the personal ("Mom, you made me soup!") with the universal ("It's a big world out there just full of soup. I can have it whenever I want!")
Quote #5
The mystical marriage with the queen goddess of the world represents the hero's total mastery of life; for the woman is life, the hero its knower and master. And the testings of the hero, which were preliminary to his ultimate experience and deed, were symbolical of those crises of realization by means of which his consciousness came to be amplified and made capable of enduring the full possession of the mother-destroyer, his inevitable bride. With that he knows that he and the father are one: he is in the father's place. (111.1)
We're back to Freud here, and it's heavy duty Freud too. Killing your father and marrying your mother: whoa there. But actually, the idea's a little simpler than that. When we become adults, we take on adult responsibilities, making us like our fathers. The wisdom that that brings – the way it shows us what's really important – helps us attain the things we need from the world.
Quote #6
The ease with which the adventure is here accomplished signifies that the hero is a superior man, a born king. (159.3)
This comes toward the end of the Hero's Journey, as the hero is heading home with the goodies. Because he's learned so much in the intervening time, the tasks of these last steps seem much easier… in part because he knows who he is. (Our favorite modern example of this comes at the end of The Matrix … and notice that it's a woman's kiss that delivers this final push to the finish line.)
Quote #7
The idea of the insulating horse, to keep the hero out of immediate touch with the earth and yet permit him to promenade among the peoples of the world, is a vivid example of a basic precaution taken generally by the carriers of supernormal power. (208.1)
Apparently, once you have your new identity of post-quest hero, your hands are literally so magic that you need a barrier between yourself and the old world just to keep it from being burned away in a crisp.
Quote #8
The disciple has been blessed with a vision transcending the scope of normal human destiny, and amounting to a glimpse of the essential nature of the cosmos. Not his personal fate, but the fate of mankind, of life as a whole, the atom and all the solar systems, has been opened to him; and this in terms befitting his human understanding, that is to say, in terms of an anthropomorphic vision: The Cosmic Man.
This is probably the closest thing to a "final" identity you find in Campbell: realizing that his identity encompasses the whole universe.
Quote #9
God and the gods are only convenient means—themselves of the nature of the world of names and forms, though eloquent of, and ultimately conducive to, the ineffable. They are mere symbols to move and awaken the mind, and to call it past themselves. (239.2)
This is also a part of identity, and the need to dispense with it if you really want to mamba with the nature of the universe. It's ultimately all a symbol for something more important, and when you look past the symbol to see it all, that symbol loses the importance it used to hold.
Quote #10
Stated in the terms already formulated, the hero's first task is to experience consciously the antecedent stages of the cosmogonic cycle; to break back through the epochs of emanation. His second, then, is to return from that abyss to the plane of contemporary life, there to serve as a human transformer of demiurgic potentials. (296.1)
One thing we do know about Campbell's heroes is that they usually share their goodies with the rest of us…though they can morph into monsters if they don't. It's a tricky step, all you hero types. Watch it.