William James Quotes

"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."

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

"If you want a trait, act as if you already have the trait."

"The emotions aren't always immediately subject to reason, but they are always immediately subject to action"

"Our civilization is founded on the shambles, and every individual existence goes out in a lonely spasm of helpless agony. If you protest, my friend, wait till you arrive there yourself!"

"We, the lineal representatives of the successful enactors of one scene of slaughter after another, must, whatever more pacific virtues we may also possess, still carry about with us, ready at any moment to burst into flame, the smoldering and sinister traits of character by means of which they lived through so many massacres, harming others, but themselves unharmed."

"We don't laugh because we're happy -- we're happy because we laugh."

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

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

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

"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."

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

"I know that you, ladies and gentlemen, have a philosophy, each and all of you, and that the most interesting and important thing about you is the way in which it determines the perspective in your several worlds."

"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."

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

"Need and struggle are what excite and inspire us."

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

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

"It is wrong always, everywhere, and for everyone, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence."

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