Quotes By William James

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

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

Wisdom is learning what to overlook.

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

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

To be conscious means not simply to be, but to be reported, known, to have awareness of one's being added to that being.

There is an organic affinity between joyousness and tenderness, and their companionship in the saintly life need in no way occasion surprise.

Begin to be now what you will be hereafter.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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