45 Carl Jung Quotes on Life, Wisdom and Perspective
Carl Jung
When it comes to quotes, there are millions out there. Some are inspirational and motivating, some are funny, some are spiritual, some pertain to trials and tribulations and others focus on matters of the heart. However, even though there are countless categories that quotes can fall into, one of the things a lot of them have in common is that they are powerful.
In fact, good quotes will leave an imprint on those who read them. They will even shed some light on a different perspective, which can be encouraging during difficult situations. That’s how you’ll feel when you read quotes from Carl Jung. He was a legendary Swiss psychiatrist and the founder of analytical psychology, which is a holistic approach that brings together the body, mind and soul and explores the human psyche.
So check out these 45 Carl Jung quotes below. His profound and sometimes poetic words cover a variety of topics and give insight into the hard, confusing, mundane and wonderful moments you encounter while going through the journey of life. They are not just good to turn to when you’re seeking an answer to something, but they also make great life mottos, Instagram captions and daily affirmations.
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45 Carl Jung Quotes
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1. “You are what you do, not what you say you’ll do.”
2. “Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.”
3. “To ask the right question is already half the solution of a problem.”
4. “Everyone you meet knows something you don’t know but need to know. Learn from them.”
5. “Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.”
6. “Normality is a fine ideal for those who have no imagination.”
7. “The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are.”
8. “The ability to ask questions is the greatest resource in learning the truth.”
9. “The difference between a good life and a bad life is how well you walk through the fire.”
10. “Wholeness is not achieved by cutting off a portion of one’s being, but by integration of the contraries.”
11. “The highest, most decisive experience is to be alone with one’s own self. You must be alone to find out what supports you, when you find that you can not support yourself. Only this experience can give you an indestructible foundation.”
12. “We are not what happened to us, we are what we wish to become.”
13. “Thinking is difficult, that’s why most people judge.”
14. “The world will ask you who you are, and if you don't know, the world will tell you.”
15. “As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light of meaning in the darkness of mere being.”
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16. "Do not compare, do not measure. No other way is like yours. All other ways deceive and tempt you. You must fulfill the way that is in you.
17. “Free will is the ability to do gladly that which I must do.”
18. “Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.”
19. “We meet ourselves time and again in a thousand disguises on the path of life.”
20. “Synchronicity is an ever present reality for those who have eyes to see.”
21. “Art is a kind of innate drive that seizes a human being and makes him its instrument. To perform this difficult office it is sometimes necessary for him to sacrifice happiness and everything that makes life worth living for the ordinary human being.”
22. “Life really does begin at forty. Up until then, you are just doing research.”
23. “Knowing your own darkness is the best method for dealing with the darknesses of other people.”
24. “If a man knows more than others, he becomes lonely.”
25. “The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed.”
26. “The greatest tragedy of the family is the unlived lives of the parents.”
27. “The first half of life is devoted to forming a healthy ego, the second half is going inward and letting go of it.”
28. “People will do anything, no matter how absurd, to avoid facing their own souls.”
29. “The most important question anyone can ask is: What myth am I living?”
30. “Shame is a soul eating emotion.”
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31. “To be normal is the ultimate aim of the unsuccessful.”
32. “In every adult there lurks a child— an eternal child, something that is always becoming, is never completed, and calls for unceasing care, attention, and education. That is the part of the personality which wants to develop and become whole.”
33. “In each of us there is another whom we do not know.”
34. “One looks back with appreciation to the brilliant teachers, but with gratitude to those who touched our human feelings. The curriculum is so much necessary raw material, but warmth is the vital element for the growing plant and for the soul of the child.”
35. “Wisdom accepts that all things have two sides.”
36. “We don't really heal anything; we simply let it go.”
37. “Nothing is possible without love... For love puts one in a mood to risk everything.”
38. “We don't get wounded alone and we don't heal alone.”
39. “There is no coming to consciousness without pain.”
40. “Loneliness does not come from having no people about one, but from being unable to communicate the things that seem important to oneself, or from holding certain views which others find inadmissible.”
41. “The brighter the light, the darker the shadow.”
42. “Life calls not for perfection, but for completeness.”
43. “Embrace your grief. For there, your soul will grow.”
44. “Neurosis is the natural by-product of pain avoidance.”
45. “One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.”
