William James Quotes And Sayings

William James was an American philosopher and psychologist who was also trained as a physician. The first educator to offer a psychology course in the United States, James was one of the leading thinkers of the late nineteenth century and is believed by many to be one of the most influential philosophers the United States has ever produced, while others have labeled him the “Father of American psychology”. Along with Charles Sanders Peirce and John Dewey, James is considered to be one of the major figures associated with the philosophical school known as pragmatism, and is also cited as one of the founders of functional psychology. He also developed the philosophical perspective known as radical empiricism.

Believe That Life Is Worth Living And Your Belief Will Help Create The Fact.

Be Willing To Have It So. Acceptance Of What Has Happened Is The First Step To Overcoming The Consequences Of Any Misfortune.

The History Of Philosophy Is To A Great Extent That Of A Certain Clash Of Human Temperaments.

Acceptance Of What Has Happened Is The First Step To Overcoming The Consequences Of Any Misfortune.

The Deepest Principle In Human Nature Is The Craving To Be Appreciated.

There Is Only One Thing A Philosopher Can Be Relied Upon To Do, And That Is To Contradict Other Philosophers.

The Greatest Use Of A Life Is To Spend It On Something That Will Outlast It.

To Be Radical, An Empiricism Must Neither Admit Into Its Constructions Any Element That Is Not Directly Experienced, Nor Exclude From Them Any Element That Is Directly Experienced.

Truth Is What Works.

Most People Never Run Far Enough On Their First Wind To Find Out They've Got A Second.

A Great Many People Think They Are Thinking When They Are Merely Rearranging Their Prejudices.

To Change Ones Life: Start Immediately. Do It Flamboyantly.

Act As If What You Do Makes A Difference. It Does.

It Is Our Attitude At The Beginning Of A Difficult Task Which, More Than Anything Else, Will Affect Its Successful Outcome.

It Is Only By Risking Our Persons From One Hour To Another That We Live At All. And Often Enough Our Faith Beforehand In An Uncertified Result Is The Only Thing That Makes The Result Come True.

No Matter How Full A Reservoir Of Maxims One May Possess, And No Matter How Good One's Sentiments May Be, If One Has Not Taken Advantage Of Every Concrete Opportunity To Act, One's Character May Remain Entirely Unaffected For The Better.

A Chain Is No Stronger Than Its Weakest Link, And Life Is After All A Chain.

If You Care Enough For A Result, You Will Most Certainly Attain It.

If Merely 'Feeling Good' Could Decide, Drunkenness Would Be The Supremely Valid Human Experience.

Let Everything You Do Be Done As If It Makes A Difference.

The Aim Of A College Education Is To Teach You To Know A Good Man When You See One.

Could The Young But Realize How Soon They Will Become Mere Walking Bundles Of Habits, They Would Give More Heed To Their Conduct While In The Plastic State.

The Greatest Weapon Against Stress Is Our Ability To Choose One Thought Over Another.

To Be Conscious Means Not Simply To Be, But To Be Reported, Known, To Have Awareness Of One's Being Added To That Being.

There Is An Organic Affinity Between Joyousness And Tenderness, And Their Companionship In The Saintly Life Need In No Way Occasion Surprise.

Man Can Alter His Life By Altering His Thinking.

Whenever You're In Conflict With Someone, There Is One Factor That Can Make The Difference Between Damaging Your Relationship And Deepening It. That Factor Is Attitude.

Belief Creates The Actual Fact.

The Sway Of Alcohol Over Mankind Is Unquestionably Due To Its Power To Stimulate The Mystical Faculties Of Human Nature, Usually Crushed To Earth By The Cold Facts And Dry Criticisms Of The Sober Hour.

There Is But One Cause Of Human Failure. And That Is Man's Lack Of Faith In His True Self.

Faith Means Belief In Something Concerning Which Doubt Is Theoretically Possible.

We Don't Laugh Because We're Happy - We're Happy Because We Laugh.

Everybody Should Do At Least Two Things Each Day That He Hates To Do, Just For Practice.

Pessimism Leads To Weakness, Optimism To Power.

Why Should We Think Upon Things That Are Lovely? Because Thinking Determines Life. It Is A Common Habit To Blame Life Upon The Environment. Environment Modifies Life But Does Not Govern Life. The Soul Is Stronger Than Its Surroundings.

The Sovereign Cure For Worry Is Prayer.

Whatever Universe A Professor Believes In Must At Any Rate Be A Universe That Lends Itself To Lengthy Discourse. A Universe Definable In Two Sentences Is Something For Which The Professorial Intellect Has No Use. No Faith In Anything Of That Cheap Kind!

Human Beings Can Alter Their Lives By Altering Their Attitudes Of Mind.

If You Want A Quality, Act As If You Already Had It.

Action May Not Bring Happiness But There Is No Happiness Without Action.

There Is No More Miserable Human Being Than One In Whom Nothing Is Habitual But Indecision.

The 'I Think' Which Kant Said Must Be Able To Accompany All My Objects, Is The 'I Breathe' Which Actually Does Accompany Them.

To Study The Abnormal Is The Best Way Of Understanding The Normal.

The World We See That Seems So Insane Is The Result Of A Belief System That Is Not Working. To Perceive The World Differently, We Must Be Willing To Change Our Belief System, Let The Past Slip Away, Expand Our Sense Of Now, And Dissolve The Fear In Our Minds.

We Are All Ready To Be Savage In Some Cause. The Difference Between A Good Man And A Bad One Is The Choice Of The Cause.

Time Itself Comes In Drops.

When You Have To Make A Choice And Don't Make It, That Is In Itself A Choice.

If You Believe That Feeling Bad Or Worrying Long Enough Will Change A Past Or Future Event, Then You Are Residing On Another Planet With A Different Reality System.

An Act Has No Ethical Quality Whatever Unless It Be Chosen Out Of Several All Equally Possible.

Our Errors Are Surely Not Such Awfully Solemn Things. In A World Where We Are So Certain To Incur Them In Spite Of All Our Caution, A Certain Lightness Of Heart Seems Healthier Than This Excessive Nervousness On Their Behalf.