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William James

William James Quotes

Philosopher

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Famous William James Quotes

“The attitude of unhappiness is not only painful, it is mean and ugly. What can be more base and unworthy than the pining, puling, mumping mood, no matter by what outward ills it may have been engendered? What is more injurious to others? What less helpful as a way out of the difficulty? It but fastens and perpetuates the trouble which occasioned it, and increases the total evil of the situation. At all costs, then, we ought to reduce the sway of that mood; we ought to scout it in ourselves and others, and never show it tolerance.”

WayMayMeanHas BeensMatterShowsHappinessEvilAttitudeSituationTroubleOughtCostDifficultyIncreasePainfulUglyToleranceMoodHelpfulUnhappinessUnworthyPining
Book:The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature
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“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.”

MayMeanStillsMomentsCharacterVirtueSuccessfulReadySceneFlamesTraitsAggressionRepresentativesSlaughterPacificSinisterMassacresHarming Others
Book:The Principles of Psychology, Vol. 2
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“It is as if there were in the human consciousness a sense of reality, a feeling of objective presence, a perception of what we may call something there, more deep and more general than any of the special and particular senses by which the current psychology supposes existent realities to be originally revealed.”

IfsHumansMayFeelingsRealityConsciousnessPsychologySpecialParticularPerceptionCurrentsSensesObjectivesHuman Consciousness
Book:The Varieties of Religious Experience
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“The greatest discovery of the 19th century was not in the realm of the physical sciences, but the power of the subconscious mind touched by faith. Any individual can tap into an eternal reservoir of power that will enable them to overcome any problem that may arise. All weaknesses can be overcome, bodily healing, financial independence, spiritual awakening, and prosperity beyond your wildest dreams. This is the superstructure of happiness.”

MindMayProblemDreamHappinessSpiritualIndividualHealingCenturyEternalWeaknessDiscoveryOvercomingIndependenceFinancialProsperityAwakeningAriseRealmsTouchedSubconsciousSpiritual Awakening19th CenturySubconscious MindReservoirsPhysical ScienceWildest DreamsFinancial Independence
Author:William James
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“Let no youth have any anxiety about the upshot of his education, whatever the line of it may be. If he keep faithfully busy each hour of the working-day, he may safely leave the result to itself. He can with perfect certainty count on waking up some fine morning to find himself one of the competent ones of his generation.”

IfsInspirationalMayHoursLinesPerfectResultsEducationMorningGenerationsYouthFineAnxietyWake UpBusyCertaintyWakingCompetent
Book:The Principles of Psychology
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“Mankind's common instinct for reality has always held the world to be essentially a theatre for heroism. In heroism, we feel, life's supreme mystery is hidden. We tolerate no one who has no capacity whatever for it in any direction. On the other hand, no matter what a man's frailties otherwise may be, if he be willing to risk death, and still more if he suffer it heroically, in the service he has chosen, the fact consecrates him forever.”

IfsMenWorldFeelsMayStillsMatterFactsHandsRealitySufferingCommonForeverRiskMysteryMankindWillingCapacityNo Matter WhatInstinctTheatreSupremeChosenHeroismTolerateFrailty
Book:The Varieties of Religious Experience
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“There is no doubt that healthy-mindedness is inadequate as a philosophical doctrine, because the evil facts which it refuses positively to account for are a genuine portion of reality; and they may after all be the best key to life's significance, and possibly the only openers of our eyes to the deepest levels of truth.”

MayFactsRealityEyeEvilLevelsDoubtKeysHealthyAccountsPhilosophicalRefuseGenuineDoctrineNo DoubtBeing The BestSignificancePortionsExistentialPositivelyInadequate
Book:The William James Reader
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“A Beethoven string-quartet is truly, as some one has said, a scraping of horses' tails on cats' bowels, and may be exhaustively described in such terms; but the application of this description in no way precludes the simultaneous applicability of an entirely different description.”

WayMaySaidDifferentScienceTermCatHorseDescriptionStringsApplicationTailsViolinQuartetsSimultaneousBowelsScrapingString Quartets
Book:Essays in Popular Philosophy: Top Essays
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