46+ timeless Carl Jung quotes on life, psychology and the soul

Carl Jung is a respected voice in the psychiatry and psychotherapy world. The Swiss author, thinker, and philosopher is characterised by his beliefs in the sum of an individual's lived moments, lessons, and experiences. Dr. Murray Stein, a Jungian psychoanalyst, shares insights on why Jung’s quotes and ideas continue to hold relevance in modern times. Uncover a collection of impactful Carl Jung quotes to understand life and its experiences.

Key takeaways

• Carl Jung was a psychiatrist and psychologist whose thoughts were influenced by Sigmund Freud, Immanuel Kant, and Abraham Maslow.
• He is regarded as the father of analytical psychology.
• His work is centred around the process of integrating opposites, such as the conscious and unconscious as well as extraversion and introversion.

Carl Jung quotes

Carl Jung's most famous ideas have helped develop the concept of collective consciousness and unconsciousness. In his writings, he recorded that what drives people to war or peace with themselves is the knowledge and acceptance that they consist of two opposing persons: the ego and the shadow.

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Carl Jung quotes about life

C.G. Jung's quotes help define life as a complex collection of opposites. Below is a collection of impactful living life quotes to help you navigate its complexities.

• Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life, and you will call it fate.
• No tree, it is said, can grow to heaven unless its roots reach down to hell.
• Mistakes are, after all, the foundations of truth, and if a man does not know what a thing is, it is at least an increase in knowledge if he knows what it is not.
• We cannot change anything unless we accept it.
• The shoe that fits one person pinches another; no recipe for living suits all cases.
• Even a happy life requires a measure of darkness, and the word 'happy' would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness.
• The first half of life is devoted to forming a healthy ego, the second half is going inward and letting go of it.
• Every human life contains a potential; if that potential is not fulfilled, then that life is wasted.
• It all depends on how we look at things, and not on how things are in themselves. The least of things with a meaning is worth more in life than the greatest of things without it.
• The least of things with a meaning is worth more in life than the greatest of things without it.

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Carl Jung quotes on love

To the Swiss psychologist, love is a guiding force that can help you navigate growth and self-actualisation. Have a look at these insightful words of wisdom about love.

• Where love rules, there is no will to power, and where power predominates, love is lacking. The one is the shadow of the other.
• Never lose hope that work done with love will lead to a good end.
• The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct acting from inner necessity. The creative mind plays with the objects it loves.
• The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed.
• If you fulfil the pattern that is peculiar to yourself, you have loved yourself, you have accumulated and have abundance; you bestow virtue then because you have lustre.
• It is the man without amor fati (love of fate) who is neurotic; he, truly, has missed his vocation.
• The separation between life and love is the contradiction between solitude and togetherness.
• A man who has not passed through the inferno of his passions has never overcome them.
• Nothing is possible without love, not even the processes of alchemy, for love puts one in the mood to risk everything and not withhold important elements.
• The kernel of all jealousy is lack of love.

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Carl Jung quotes on the soul

The concept of the soul is generally viewed as the essence of an individual. These Jungian quotes will help you connect to your inner self and find your purpose.

• Your visions will only become clear when you can look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.
• People will do anything, no matter how absurd, to avoid facing their souls.
• Shame is a soul-eating emotion.
• As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light of meaning in the darkness of a mere being.
• Were it not for the leaping and twinkling of the soul, man would rot away in his greatest passion, idleness.
• We have been so busy with the question of what we think that we entirely forgot to ask what the unconscious psyche thinks about us.
• The mind that is collectively oriented is quite incapable of thinking and feeling in any other way than by projection.
• Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life, and you will call it fate.
• Knowing your darkness is the best method for dealing with the darkness of other people.
• The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are.

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Carl Jung's quotes on spirituality

To Jung, spirituality is not only a practice but also a means to align the conscious and unconscious self. Have a look at this collection of quotes to inspire your spiritual journey.

• There's no coming to consciousness without pain.
• God has fallen out of containment in religion and into human hearts—God is incarnating. Our whole unconscious is in an uproar from the God Who wants to know and to be known.
• But what a dreary world it would be if the rules were not violated sometimes!
• This life is the way, the long-sought-after way to the unfathomable, which we call divine. There is no other way, all other ways are false paths.
• The ideas of the moral order and God belong to the ineradicable substrate of the human soul.
• The collective unconscious contains the whole spiritual heritage of mankind's evolution, born anew in the brain structure.
• The language and the "people" of the unconscious are symbols and the means of communicating dreams.
• The unconscious is not just evil by nature; it is also the source of the highest good.
• It is perhaps a humiliating sign of spiritual immaturity that (modern) man needs and wants a large measure of authority.
• I am the egg that surrounds and nurtures the seed of God in me.

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Carl Jung quotes about self

Jung theorised the framework of the self as a complex union of the conscious and unconscious. Through this collection, you will find impactful quotes and calls to action as you pursue personal development.

• Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.
• I am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to become.
• You are what you do, not what you say you'll do.
• Knowing your darkness is the best method for dealing with the darkness of other people.
• The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are.
• The most terrifying thing is to accept oneself completely.
• Whatever is rejected from the self appears in the world as an event.
• What you resist, persists.
• Profound reflection is needed to discover what is truly individual in ourselves, and suddenly, we realize how uncommonly difficult this is.
• Wholeness is not achieved by cutting off a portion of one’s being but by integration of the contraries.

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Why do Carl Jung’s quotes remain relevant today?

Dr. Murray Stein, a Jungian psychoanalyst, explained in an interview the reason behind Carl Jung’s quotes being relevant today, especially in psychology and self-discovery. He said:

Jung’s memorable quotes are pithy (brief but clever) and communicate deep wisdom. This resonates with people and stimulates their inner truth.

How did Jung’s ideas shape modern psychology?

Dr. Stein also highlights how Carl Jung’s ideas about the unconscious mind and archetypes shape modern technology:

Jung’s ideas grounded the human psyche in the true nature of Being and aligned the unconscious with the structures of Reality beyond the personal dimension. Jung’s vision of the collective unconscious reveals our common humanity beyond cultural or ethnic contexts. This is revolutionary for psychology and ethnology.

What is the famous Carl Jung quote?

Carl Jung's thoughts about character as an expression of one's actions have become one of his most famous quotes. The quote says;

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What is Carl Jung known for?

The psychiatrist is best known for his contribution to analytical psychology, a key concept in the study of psychology. Analytical psychology is a theory of the mind and a form of psychotherapy that focuses on the unconscious and symbolic experiences.

Carl Jung's quotes are thought-provoking premises about love, self, personality, and the overall complexity of life. They challenge traditional thinking and inspire a critical reexamination of one's experiences in the pursuit of purpose.

Legit.ng has recently published a collection of stoic quotes to build your fearlessness and resilience in the face of tragedy. Stoicism is a Hellenistic philosophy built and practised in ancient Greek and Roman times.

Through stoicism, the quest for purpose and fulfilment is guided by cultivating wisdom, mindfulness, self-discipline, reason and justice. Read on for an inspiring collection of quotes to build your strength and resilience.

Source: Legit.ng