William James was an American philosopher and psychologist, and the first educator to offer a psychology course in the United States. James is considered to be a leading thinker of the late nineteenth century, one of the most influential philosophers of the United States, and the “Father of American psychology”. Along with Charles Sanders Peirce, James established the philosophical school known as pragmatism, and is also cited as one of the founders of functional psychology. James also developed the philosophical perspective known as radical empiricism.
James’ work has influenced philosophers and academics. James wrote widely on many topics, including epistemology, education, metaphysics, psychology, religion, and mysticism. Among his most influential books are The Principles of Psychology, a groundbreaking text in the field of psychology; Essays in Radical Empiricism, an important text in philosophy; and The Varieties of Religious Experience, an investigation of different forms of religious experience, including theories on mind-cure.
Some of the best quotes from William James are listed below.
- “A man may not achieve everything he has dreamed, but he will never achieve anything great without having dreamed it first.” – William James
- “A man with no philosophy in him is the most inauspicious and unprofitable of all possible social mates.” – William James
- “A winner’s attitude: it may be difficult, but it’s possible. A loser’s attitude: It may be possible, but it’s too difficult.” – William James
- “Acceptance of what has happened is the first step to overcoming the consequences of any misfortune.” – William James
- “Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.” – William James
- “Act the part and you will become the part.” – William James
- “Action may not bring happiness but there is no happiness without action.” – William James
- “Action seems to follow feeling, but really action and feeling go together; and by regulating the action, which is under the more direct control of the will, we can indirectly regulate the feeling, which is not.” – William James
- “All our life, so far as it has definite form, is but a mass of habits.” – William James
- “Anything you may hold firmly in your imagination can be yours.” – William James
- “As a rule we disbelieve all the facts and theories for which we have no use.” – William James
- “Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the fact.” – William James
- “Circumstance does not make me, it reveals me.” – William James
- “Compared to what we ought to be, we are only half awake. We are making use of only a small part of our physical and mental resources. Stating the thing broadly, the human individual thus lives far within his limits. He possesses power of various sorts which he habitually fails to use.” – William James
- “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.” – William James
- “Effort is the one strictly undervalued and original contribution we make to this world.” – William James
- “Every man who possibly can should force himself to a holiday of a full month in a year, whether he feels like taking it or not.” – William James
- “Formula to live your dream: 1. Be bold. 2. Begin now, 3. No exceptions.” – William James
- “Genius, in truth, means little more than the faculty of perceiving in an unhabitual way.” – William James
- “Great emergencies and crises show us how much greater our vital resources are than we had supposed.” – William James
- “Habit simplifies our movements, makes them accurate, and diminishes fatigue.” – William James
- “He who refuses to embrace a unique opportunity loses the prize as surely as if he had failed.” – William James
- “Human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives.” – William James
- “I don’t sing because I’m happy; I’m happy because I sing.” – William James
- “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.” – William James
- “If you can change your mind, you can change your life.” – William James
- “If you give appreciation to people, you win their goodwill. But more important than that, practicing this philosophy has made a different person of me.” – William James
- “If you only care enough for a result, you will almost certainly attain it. Only you must, then, really wish these things, and wish them exclusively, and not wish at the same time a hundred other incompatible things just as strongly.” – William James
- “If you want a quality, act as if you already had it.” – William James
- “If you want confidence, act as if you already have it. Try the “as if” technique.” – William James
- “In business for yourself, not by yourself.” – William James
- “It is our attitude at the beginning of a difficult task which, more than anything else, will affect its successful outcome.” – William James
- “Keep the faculty of effort alive in you by a little gratuitous exercise every day.” – William James
- “Lives based on having are less free than lives based either on doing or being.” – William James
- “Man alone of all the creatures of earth can change his own pattern. Man alone is the architect of his own destiny.” – William James
- “Man lives in only one small room of the enormous house of his consciousness.” – William James
- “Men habitually use only a small part of the power which they actually possess.” – William James
- “Most people never run far enough on their first wind to find out they’ve got a second.” – William James
- “Most unhappiness is caused because people listen to themselves… instead of talking to themselves.” – William James
- “Once a decision is reached, stop worrying and start working.” – William James
- “Our belief at the beginning of a doubtful undertaking is the one thing that assures the successful outcome of any venture.” – William James
- “Our experience is what we attend to.” – William James
- “Our view of the world is truly shaped by what we decide to hear.” – William James
- “Pessimism leads to weakness, optimism to power.” – William James
- “Positive images of the future are a powerful and magnetic force… They draw us on and energize us, give us courage and will to take on important initiatives. Negative images of the future also have a magnetism. They pull the spirit downward in the path of despair.” – William James
- “Procrastination is attitude’s natural assassin. There’s nothing so fatiguing as an uncompleted task.” – William James
- “Success or failure depends more upon attitude than upon capacity… successful men act as though they have accomplished or are enjoying something. Soon it becomes a reality. Act, look, feel successful, conduct yourself accordingly, and you will be amazed at the positive results.” – William James
- “Tension is a habit. Relaxing is a habit. Bad habits can be broken, good habits formed.” – William James
- “The art of being wise is knowing what to overlook.” – William James
- “The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated.” – William James
- “The good we do today becomes the happiness of tomorrow.” – William James
- “The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes.” – William James
- “The greatest use of a life is to spend it on something that will outlast it.” – William James
- “The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.” – William James
- “The mind is made up by what it feeds upon.” – William James
- “The minute a man ceases to grow, no matter what his years, that minute he begins to be old.” – William James
- “The power to move the world is in the subconscious mind.” – William James
- “The strenuous life tastes better.” – William James
- “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.” – William James
- “There is a law in psychology that if you form a picture in your mind of what you would like to be, and you keep and hold that picture there long enough, you will soon become exactly as you have been thinking.” – William James
- “There is but one cause of human failure. And that is man’s lack of faith in his true Self.” – William James
- “There is no more miserable human being than one in whom nothing is habitual but indecision.” – William James
- “There is nothing so absurd that it cannot be believed as truth if repeated often enough.” – William James
- “This life is worth living, we can say, since it is what we make it.” – William James
- “Thoughts become perception, perception becomes reality. Alter your thoughts, alter your reality.” – William James
- “To change one’s life: 1. Start immediately. 2. Do it flamboyantly. 3. No exceptions.” – William James
- “To kill time is not murder, it’s suicide.” – William James
- “We forget that every good that is worth possessing must be paid for in strokes of daily effort. We postpone and postpone until those smiling possibilities are dead… By neglecting the necessary concrete labor, by sparing ourselves the little daily tax, we are positively digging the graves of our higher possibilities.” – William James
- “What holds attention determines action.” – William James
- “When thoughts do not neutralize an undesirable emotion, action will.” – William James
- “When you have to make a choice and don’t make it, that is in itself a choice.” – William James
- “Whenever two people meet, there are really six people present. There is each man as he sees himself, each man as the other person sees him, and each man as he really is.” – William James
- “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.” – William James
- “Wherever you are, it is your friends who make your world.” – William James
- “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.” – William James
- “Wisdom is seeing something in a non-habitual manner.” – William James
- “Your hopes, dreams and aspirations are legitimate. They are trying to take you airborne, above the clouds, above the storms, if you only let them.” – William James
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