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William James

Explore inspiring quotes by William James, a remarkable figure whose words continue to inspire and motivate people around the world.

76

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38

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life

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Discover the themes and topics this author explores most

life

6 quotes

faith

5 quotes

good

4 quotes

attitude

4 quotes

truth

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great

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change

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men

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Featured Quotes by William James

Some of the most memorable quotes from this author

"It is well for the world that in most of us, by the age of thirty, the character has set like plaster, and will never soften again."

— William Jamesage

"The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook."

— William Jamesart

"It is our attitude at the beginning of a difficult task which, more than anything else, will affect its successful outcome."

— William Jamesattitude

"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 Jamesattitude

"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 Jamesattitude

"There must be something solemn, serious, and tender about any attitude which we denominate religious. If glad, it must not grin or snicker if sad, it must not scream or curse."

— William Jamesattitude

All Quotes by William James

Browse all quotes from this author

"It is well for the world that in most of us, by the age of thirty, the character has set like plaster, and will never soften again."

-William James

"The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook."

-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

attitudeView Quote

"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

attitudeView Quote

"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

attitudeView Quote

"There must be something solemn, serious, and tender about any attitude which we denominate religious. If glad, it must not grin or snicker if sad, it must not scream or curse."

-William James

attitudeView Quote

"To study the abnormal is the best way of understanding the normal."

-William James

"The best argument I know for an immortal life is the existence of a man who deserves one."

-William James

"In business for yourself, not by yourself."

-William James

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"The god whom science recognizes must be a God of universal laws exclusively, a God who does a wholesale, not a retail business. He cannot accommodate his processes to the convenience of individuals."

-William James

businessView Quote

"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

changeView Quote

"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

changeView Quote

"To change ones life: Start immediately. Do it flamboyantly."

-William James

changeView Quote

"The aim of a college education is to teach you to know a good man when you see one."

-William James

educationView Quote

"If merely 'feeling good' could decide, drunkenness would be the supremely valid human experience."

-William James

experienceView Quote

"Pure experience' is the name I gave to the immediate flux of life which furnishes the material to our later reflection with its conceptual categories."

-William James

experienceView Quote

"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

failureView Quote

"There is but one cause of human failure. And that is man's lack of faith in his true Self."

-William James

failureView Quote

"Faith means belief in something concerning which doubt is theoretically possible."

-William James

faithView Quote

"There is but one cause of human failure. And that is man's lack of faith in his true Self."

-William James

faithView Quote

"Our faith is faith in someone else's faith, and in the greatest matters this is most the case."

-William James

faithView Quote

"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!"

-William James

faithView Quote

"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."

-William James

faithView Quote

"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

"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

futureView Quote

"If the grace of God miraculously operates, it probably operates through the subliminal door."

-William James

"The god whom science recognizes must be a God of universal laws exclusively, a God who does a wholesale, not a retail business. He cannot accommodate his processes to the convenience of individuals."

-William James

"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."

-William James

"If merely 'feeling good' could decide, drunkenness would be the supremely valid human experience."

-William James

"The aim of a college education is to teach you to know a good man when you see one."

-William James

"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."

-William James

"A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices."

-William James

greatView Quote

"The great use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it."

-William James

greatView Quote

"Great emergencies and crises show us how much greater our vital resources are than we had supposed."

-William James

greatView Quote

"The history of philosophy is to a great extent that of a certain clash of human temperaments."

-William James

greatView Quote

"Action may not bring happiness but there is no happiness without action."

-William James

happinessView Quote

"How to gain, how to keep, how to recover happiness is in fact for most men at all times the secret motive of all they do, and of all they are willing to endure."

-William James

happinessView Quote

"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

historyView Quote

"The history of philosophy is to a great extent that of a certain clash of human temperaments."

-William James

historyView Quote

"Common sense and a sense of humor are the same thing, moving at different speeds. A sense of humor is just common sense, dancing."

-William James

humorView Quote

"Belief creates the actual fact."

-William James

inspirationalView Quote

"Knowledge about life is one thing effective occupation of a place in life, with its dynamic currents passing through your being, is another."

-William James

knowledgeView Quote

"If you want a quality, act as if you already had it."

-William James

leadershipView Quote

"If you care enough for a result, you will most certainly attain it."

-William James

leadershipView Quote

"Wisdom is learning what to overlook."

-William James

learningView Quote

"Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the fact."

-William James

"The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes."

-William James

"To change ones life: Start immediately. Do it flamboyantly."

-William James

"This life is worth living, we can say, since it is what we make it."

-William James

"The great use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it."

-William James

"A chain is no stronger than its weakest link, and life is after all a chain."

-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

"The ideas gained by men before they are twenty-five are practically the only ideas they shall have in their lives."

-William James

"How to gain, how to keep, how to recover happiness is in fact for most men at all times the secret motive of all they do, and of all they are willing to endure."

-William James

"Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does."

-William James

motivationalView Quote

"Begin to be now what you will be hereafter."

-William James

motivationalView Quote

"The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated."

-William James

natureView Quote

"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."

-William James

natureView Quote

"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

positiveView Quote

"Pessimism leads to weakness, optimism to power."

-William James

powerView Quote

"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."

-William James

powerView Quote

"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

relationshipView Quote

"There must be something solemn, serious, and tender about any attitude which we denominate religious. If glad, it must not grin or snicker if sad, it must not scream or curse."

-William James

"The god whom science recognizes must be a God of universal laws exclusively, a God who does a wholesale, not a retail business. He cannot accommodate his processes to the convenience of individuals."

-William James

scienceView Quote

"Man lives for science as well as bread."

-William James

scienceView Quote

"Most people never run far enough on their first wind to find out they've got a second."

-William James

sportsView Quote

"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

successView Quote

"The community stagnates without the impulse of the individual. The impulse dies away without the sympathy of the community."

-William James

sympathyView Quote

"Time itself comes in drops."

-William James

"Those thoughts are truth which guide us to beneficial interaction with sensible particulars as they occur, whether they copy these in advance or not."

-William James

truthView Quote

"Truth lives, in fact, for the most part on a credit system. Our thoughts and beliefs pass, so long as nothing challenges them, just as bank-notes pass so long as nobody refuses them."

-William James

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"Truth is what works."

-William James

truthView Quote

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