"We're our own dragons as well as our own heroes, and we have to rescue ourselves from ourselves"
About this Quote
The genius of Robbins' line is how it steals the fantasy genre's most comforting lie: that danger is external, slayable, and cleanly separated from the self. By naming us both "dragons" and "heroes", he collapses the moral cartoon. The monster isn't an invading force; it's your appetites, your defenses, your rehearsed grievances, the story you tell to justify staying stuck. And the hero isn't a chosen one, either. It's the part of you willing to look unflinchingly at the mess you've made and still act.
"Rescue ourselves from ourselves" sounds like a self-help bumper sticker until you notice the claustrophobia of it. There's no outside cavalry. No mythic mentor. No institutional workaround. Robbins is basically saying the prison and the key are made from the same material: your mind, your habits, your fear of change dressed up as principle. The line works because it's both empowering and accusatory. If you're the dragon, you can't outsource blame; if you're the hero, you can't indulge helplessness.
Context matters: Robbins comes out of a late-20th-century American literary scene allergic to solemnity, where spiritual hunger and skepticism cohabited. His novels often treat liberation as comic, bodily, and inconvenient. This quote carries that Robbins-esque wink: self-realization isn't a tranquil sunrise; it's a sword fight in your own living room. The real battle isn't against evil; it's against the seductive comfort of not growing.
"Rescue ourselves from ourselves" sounds like a self-help bumper sticker until you notice the claustrophobia of it. There's no outside cavalry. No mythic mentor. No institutional workaround. Robbins is basically saying the prison and the key are made from the same material: your mind, your habits, your fear of change dressed up as principle. The line works because it's both empowering and accusatory. If you're the dragon, you can't outsource blame; if you're the hero, you can't indulge helplessness.
Context matters: Robbins comes out of a late-20th-century American literary scene allergic to solemnity, where spiritual hunger and skepticism cohabited. His novels often treat liberation as comic, bodily, and inconvenient. This quote carries that Robbins-esque wink: self-realization isn't a tranquil sunrise; it's a sword fight in your own living room. The real battle isn't against evil; it's against the seductive comfort of not growing.
Quote Details
| Topic | Self-Improvement |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
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