James Hillman Quotes

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James Hillman

Profession : Psychologist

Birth : April 12, 1926

The older people that one admires seem to be fearless. They go right out into the world. It's astounding. Maybe they can't see or they can't hear, but they walk out into the street and take life as it comes. They're models of courage, in a strange way.

James Hillman

It's very hard to know what wisdom is.

James Hillman

It is impossible to see the angel unless you first have a notion of it.

James Hillman

The capacity for people to kid themselves is huge. Living on illusions or delusions, and the re-establishing of these illusions or delusions requires a big effort to keep them from being seen through. But a very old idea is at work behind our current state of affairs: enantiodromia, or the Greek notion of things turning into their opposite.

James Hillman

Remember that in the early days of the feminist movement, they refused to have a leader; different women would just stand up and speak. The early feminists were very careful to not put what was spontaneously arising back in the old bottle.

James Hillman

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

James Hillman

In the history of the treatment of depression, there was the dunking stool, purging of the bowels of black bile, hoses, attempts to shock the patient. All of these represent hatred or aggression towards what depression represents in the patient.

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

I don't have answers. I have questions.

James Hillman

I'm the result of upbringing, class, race, gender, social prejudices, and economics. So I'm a victim again. A result.

James Hillman

We forget that the soul has its own ancestors.

James Hillman

Just stop for a minute and you'll realize you're happy just being. I think it's the pursuit that screws up happiness. If we drop the pursuit, it's right here.

James Hillman

Sooner or later something seems to call us onto a particular path... this is what I must do, this is what I've got to have. This is who I am.

James Hillman

The moment the angel enters a life it enters an environment. We are ecological from day one.

James Hillman

If you are still being hurt by an event that happened to you at twelve, it is the thought that is hurting you now.

James Hillman

Instead of seeing depression as a dysfunction, it is a functioning phenomenon. It stops you cold, sets you down, makes you damn miserable.

James Hillman

It's very important for men to look downward, to the next generation.

James Hillman

I think we're miserable partly because we have only one god, and that's economics.

James Hillman

It's important to ask yourself, How am I useful to others? What do people want from me? That may very well reveal what you are here for.

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