The circumstances, including my body and my parents, whom I may curse, are my soul's own choice and I do not understand this because I have forgotten.
James Hillman

The culture is going into a psychological depression. We are concerned about our place in the world, about being competitive: Will my children have as much as I have? Will I ever own my own home? How can I pay for a new car? Are immigrants taking away my white world?
James Hillman

The word power has such a generally negative implication in our society. What are people talking about? Are they talking about muscles, or control?
James Hillman

Too many people have been analyzing their pasts, their childhoods, their memories, their parents, and realizing that it doesn't do anything-or that it doesn't do enough.
James Hillman

We approach people the same way we approach our cars. We take the poor kid to a doctor and ask, What's wrong with him, how much will it cost, and when can I pick him up?
James Hillman

We can't change anything until we get some fresh ideas, until we begin to see things differently.
James Hillman

We carve out risk-free lives where nothing happens.
James Hillman

We forget that the soul has its own ancestors.
James Hillman

We have to give value to authority. We have to give value to office, being in office, holding office.
James Hillman

We need to work on the world so it will not be so oppressive.
James Hillman

We're an air bag society that wants guarantees on everything that we buy. We want to be able to take everything back and get another one. We want a 401-k plan and Social Security.
James Hillman

When they talk about family values, it's in a repressive way, as if our American tradition were only the Puritan tradition or the 19th century oppressive tradition. The Christian tradition.
James Hillman

Whether we like it or not, men have more of the offices, more of the higher jobs, more of the seats in Congress. Men need to re-examine what their power is. We need to understand how to use it.
James Hillman

You don't attack the grunts of Vietnam; you blame the theory behind the war. Nobody who fought in that war was at fault. It was the war itself that was at fault. It's the same thing with psychotherapy.
James Hillman

You don't know what you're going to get into when you follow your bliss.
James Hillman