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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.

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

— William James

Life

All Quotes by 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

Good

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

— William James

Failure

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

— William James

God

“To study the abnormal is the best way of understanding the normal.”

— William James

Best

“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

Knowledge

“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

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

— William James

Great

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

— William James

Nature

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

— William James

Leadership

“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

Happiness

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

— William James

Experience

“We have to live today by what truth we can get today and be ready tomorrow to call it falsehood.”

— William James

Truth

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

— William James

Life

“Belief creates the actual fact.”

— William James

Inspirational

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

— William James

Education

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

— William James

Great

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

— William James

Best

“To change ones life: Start immediately. Do it flamboyantly.”

— William James

Change

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

— William James

Attitude

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

— William James

Great