William James the Philosopher, biography, facts and quotes

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

"The essence of genius is to know what to overlook"

"Genius... means little more than the faculty of perceiving in an unhabitual way"

"Begin to be now what you will be hereafter"

"I don't sing because I'm happy; I'm happy because I sing"

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

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

"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"

"Human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind"

"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"

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

"Be willing to have it so. Acceptance of what has happened is the first step to overcoming the consequences of any misfortune"

"An idea, to be suggestive, must come to the individual with the force of revelation"

"An act has no ethical quality whatever unless it be chosen out of several all equally possible"

"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"

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

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

"Acceptance of what has happened is the first step to overcoming the consequences of any misfortune"

"A man has as many social selves as there are individuals who recognize him"

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

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

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

"Everybody should do at least two things each day that he hates to do, just for practice"

"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"

"Do something everyday for no other reason than you would rather not do it, so that when the hour of dire need draws nigh, it may find you not unnerved and untrained to stand the test"

"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"

"Compared to what we ought to be, we are half awake"

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

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

"Belief creates the actual fact"

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

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

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

"One hearty laugh together will bring enemies into a closer communion of heart than hours spent on both sides in inward wrestling with the mental demon of uncharitable feeling"

"Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task"

"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"

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

"Metaphysics means nothing but an unusually obstinate effort to think clearly"

"Many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices"

"Man lives for science as well as bread"

"Man can alter his life by altering his thinking"

"Let everything you do be done as if it makes a difference"

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

"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"

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

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

"If any organism fails to fulfill its potentialities, it becomes sick"

"I will act as if what I do makes a difference"

"The 'I think' which Kant said must be able to accompany all my objects, is the 'I breathe' which actually does accompany them"

"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"

Occup.	Philosopher
From	USA
Born	January 11, 1842 New York City, USA
Died	August 26, 1910 Chocorua, New Hampshire, USA
Cause	Heart failure
Aged	68 years

William James Biography

86 Famous quotes by William James