Carl G Jung - Collected Quotes

"Intuition does not denote something contrary to reason, but something outside of the province of reason." (Carl G Jung, "Psychological types: or, The psychology of individuation", 1926)

"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. " (Carl G Jung, "Psychological types: or, The psychology of individuation", 1926)

"By a symbol I do not mean an allegory or a sign, but an image that describes in the best possible way the dimly discerned nature of the spirit. A symbol does not define or explain; it points beyond itself to a meaning that is darkly divined yet still beyond our grasp, and cannot be adequately expressed in the familiar words of our language." (Carl G Jung, "The Structure And Dynamics Of The Psyche", 1960)

"Language, in its origin and essence, is simply a system of signs or symbols that denote real occurrences or their echo in the human soul." (Carl G Jung, "The Structure And Dynamics Of The Psyche", 1960)

"Once we give serious consideration to the hypothesis of the unconscious, it follows that our view of the world can be but a provisional one; for if we effect so radical an alteration in the subject of perception and cognition as this dual focus implies, the result must be a world view very different from any known before." (Carl G Jung, "The Structure And Dynamics Of The Psyche", 1960)

"Synchronistic phenomena prove the simultaneous occurrence of meaningful equivalences in heterogenous, causally unrelated processes; in other words, they prove that a content perceived by an observer can, at the same time, be represented by an outside event, without any causal connection. From this it follows either that the psyche cannot be localized in time, or that space is relative to the psyche." (Carl G Jung, "The Structure And Dynamics Of The Psyche", 1960)

"We want to have certainties and no doubts - results and no experiments - without even seeing that certainties can arise only through doubt and results only thorough experiment." (Carl G Jung, "The Structure And Dynamics Of The Psyche", 1960)

"Myth is more individual and expresses life more precisely than does science. Science works with concepts of averages which are far too general to do justice to the subjective variety of an individual life." (Carl G Jung, "Memories, Dreams, Reflections", 1963)

"A dream that is not understood remains a mere occurrence; understood it becomes a living experience." (Carl G Jung, "The Practice of Psychotherapy", 1966)

"Madness is a special form of the spirit and clings to all teachings and philosophies, but even more to daily life, since life itself is full of craziness and at bottom utterly illogical. Man strives toward reason only so that he can make rules for himself. Life itself has no rules. That is its mystery and its unknown law. What you call knowledge is an attempt to impose something comprehensible on life." (Carl G Jung, "Liber Novus", 2009)

"Continuous creation is to be thought of not only as a series of successive acts of creation, but also as the eternal presence of the one creative act." (Carl G Jung)

"Error is just as important a condition of life as truth." (Carl G Jung)

"Intuition is perception via the unconscious that brings forth ideas, images, new possibilities and ways out of blocked situations." (Carl G Jung)

"It would be simple enough, if only simplicity were not the most difficult of all things." (Carl G Jung)

"Science is not indeed a perfect instrument, but it is a superb and invaluable tool that works harm only when it is taken as an end in itself." (Carl G Jung)

"Science is the art of creating suitable illusions which the fool believes or argues against, but the wise man enjoys for their beauty or their ingenuity, without being blind to the fact that they are human veils and curtains concealing the abysmal darkness of the unknowable." (Carl G Jung)

"The meaning and design of a problem seem not to lie in its solution, but in our working at it incessantly." (Carl G Jung)

"The squaring of the circle is a stage on the way to the unconscious, a point of transition leading to a goal lying as yet unformulated beyond it. It is one of those paths to the centre." (Carl G Jung)

"Ultimate truth, if there be such a thing, demands the concert of many voices." (Carl G Jung)