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William James

55 quotes

William James (1842–1910) was an American philosopher, psychologist, and the first educator to offer a course in psychology in the United States. Often called the "Father of American Psychology," James was a leading thinker in pragmatism and functionalism whose ideas about consciousness, habit, and belief continue to influence philosophy and psychology.

“Wisdom is learning what to overlook.”

— William James

Learning

All Quotes by William James

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

— William James

God

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

— William James

Motivational

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

— William James

Experience

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

— William James

Life

“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

Good

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

— William James

Sports

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

— William James

Great

“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

Humor

“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

Truth

“Individuality is founded in feeling and the recesses of feeling, the darker, blinder strata of character, are the only places in the world in which we catch real fact in the making, and directly perceive how events happen, and how work is actually done.”

— William James

Work

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

— William James

Art

“Begin to be now what you will be hereafter.”

— William James

Motivational

“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

Good

“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

Business

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

— William James

Failure

“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

Attitude

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

— William James

Leadership

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

— William James

Happiness

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

— William James

Life

“Time itself comes in drops.”

— William James

Time