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Quote by William James

“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.”

Quote by William James

Author

William James, born on January 11, 1842, and died on August 26, 1910, was an influential American philosopher, psychologist, and writer. He is considered one of the founders of functionalism in psychology and has had a profound impact on the fields of psychology, philosophy, and religion. more

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“As a rule we disbelieve all the facts and theories for which we have no use.”

Facts Use Belief Theory

Author:William James

“The further limits of our being plunge, it seems to me, into an altogether other dimension of existence from the sensible and merely understandable world. Name it the mystical region, or the supernatural region, whichever you choose. So far as our ideal impulses originate in this region (and most of them do originate in it, for we find them possessing us in a way for which we cannot articulately account), we belong to it in a more intimate sense than that in which we belong to the visible world, for we belong in the most intimate sense wherever our ideals belong.”

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Book:Essays in Pragmatism

Source: Essays in Pragmatism

“Give up the feeling of responsibility, let go your hold, resign the care of your destiny to higher powers, be genuinely indifferent as to what becomes of it all and you will find not only that you gain a perfect inward relief, but often also, in addition, the particular goods you sincerely thought you were renouncing.”

Source: The Varieties of Religious Experience

“As there is no worse lie than a truth misunderstood by those who hear it, so reasonable arguments, challenges to magnanimity, and appeals to sympathy or justice, are folly when we are dealing with human crocodiles and boa-constrictors.”

Humans Political Lying Politics Challenges Justice Argument Appeals Folly Reasonable Sympathy Persuasion Misunderstood Crocodiles Magnanimity

Book:The Varieties of Religious Experience

Source: The Varieties of Religious Experience

“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.”

Knows World Way Important Philosophy Interesting Perspective Important Things Determine Philosopher Gentleman Most Interesting Ladies And Gentlemen

Book:Writings, 1902-1910

Source: Writings, 1902-1910

“The transition from tenseness, self-responsibility, and worry, to equanimity, receptivity, and peace, is the most wonderful of all those shiftings of inner equilibrium, those changes of personal centre of energy, which I have analyzed so often; and the chief wonder of it is that it so often comes about, not by doing, but by simply relaxing and throwing the burden down.”

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Author:William James

“Smitten as we are with the vision of social righteousness, a God indifferent to everything but adulation, and full of partiality for his individual favorites, lacks an essential element of largeness.”

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Book:The William James Reader

Source: The William James Reader

“I have often thought the best way to define a man's character would be to seek out the particular mental or moral attitude in which, when it comes upon him, he felt himself most deeply and intensely active and alive. At such moments there is a voice inside which speaks and says: This is the real me!.”

Men Way Life Real Moments Character Would Be Success Speak Felt Voice Attitude Moral Alive Particular Active Best Way Real Me

Author:William James

“We must make automatic and habitual, as early as possible, as many useful actions as we can...in the acquisition of a new habit, we must take car to launch ourselves with as strong and decided initiative as possible. Never suffer an exception to occur till the new habit is securely rooted in your life.”

Life Action Success Suffering Strong Car Habit Decided Exception Rooted Initiative Acquisition Habitual New Habits

Author:William James

“Men's activities are occupied into ways -- in grappling with external circumstances and in striving to set things at one in their own topsy-turvy mind.”

Men Way Mind Circumstances Activity Strive Grappling Topsy Turvy

Book:The Letters of William James

Source: The Letters of William James