William James Quotes

Biography: William James is known as a pioneering American psychologist and philo... more Biography: William James is known as a pioneering American psychologist and philosopher, often called the "Father of American psychology." He was instrumental in the development of pragmatism and functionalism. His works, including "The Principles of Psychology" and "The Varieties of Religious Experience," have had a lasting impact on both psychology and philosophy. less

"Begin to be now what you will be hereafter""The greatest discovery of any generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes""The greatest use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it.""We don't laugh because we're happy - we're happy because we laugh.""If you want a quality, act as if you already had it.""The world is but a canvas to our imagination.""Pragmatism is the attitude of looking away from first things, principles, 'categories', supposed necessities; and of looking towards last things, fruits, consequences, facts.""The most immutable barrier in nature is between one man's thoughts and another's.""Human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives.""Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.""Action may not always bring happiness, but there is no happiness without action""Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the fact""Truth is only one way of appealing to reality""Wherever you are, it is your friends who make your world""The community stagnates without the impulse of the individual""Seek out that particular mental attribute which makes you feel most deeply and vitally alive, along with which comes the inner voice which says, This is the real me and when you have found that attitude, follow it""Human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind""The world is all the richer for having a devil in it, so long as we keep our foot upon his neck.""The truth is that belief creates the actual fact.""Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task."

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