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Decisions and choices3 quotes
An act has no ethical quality whatever unless it be chosen out of several all equally possible. — William James · 1890We are spinning our own fates, good or evil, and never to be undone. Every smallest stroke of virtue or of vice leaves its never so little scar... Nothing we ever do is, in strict scientific literalness, wiped out. — William James · 1890There is no more miserable human being than one in whom nothing is habitual but indecision. — William James · 1890Beliefs2 quotes
Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will help create the fact. — William James · 1896We can act as if there were a God; feel as if we were free; consider Nature as if she were full of special designs; lay plans as if we were to be immortal; and we find then that these words do make a genuine difference in our moral life. — William James · 1902Consciousness2 quotes
Consciousness, then, does not appear to itself chopped up in bits…It is nothing jointed; it flows. A "river" or a "stream" are the metaphors by which it is most naturally described. In talking of it hereafter, let us call it the stream of thought, of consciousness, or of subjective life. — William James · 1890Our normal waking consciousness, rational consciousness as we call it, is but one special type of consciousness, whilst all about it, parted from it by the filmiest of screens, there lie potential forms of consciousness entirely different. We may go through life without suspecting their existence; but apply the requisite stimulus, and at a touch they are there in all their completeness, definite types of mentality which probably somewhere have their field of application and adaptation. — William James · 1902Power of thought2 quotes
Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will help create the fact. — William James · 1896We can act as if there were a God; feel as if we were free; consider Nature as if she were full of special designs; lay plans as if we were to be immortal; and we find then that these words do make a genuine difference in our moral life. — William James · 1902The self2 quotes
I have often thought that the best way to define a man's character would be to seek out the particular mental or moral attitude in which, when it came 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!" — William James · 1878In its widest possible sense, however, a man's Self is the sum total of all that he can call his, not only his body and his psychic powers, but his clothes and his house, his wife and children, his ancestors and friends, his reputation and works, his lands and horses, and yacht and bank account. All these things give him the same emotions. If they wax and prosper, he feels triumphant; if they dwindle and die away, he feels cast down. — William James · 1890Actions have consequences1 quote
We are spinning our own fates, good or evil, and never to be undone. Every smallest stroke of virtue or of vice leaves its never so little scar... Nothing we ever do is, in strict scientific literalness, wiped out. — William James · 1890Certainty1 quote
Objective evidence and certitude are doubtless very fine ideals to play with, but where on this moonlit and dream-visited planet are they found? — William James · 1896Character1 quote
I have often thought that the best way to define a man's character would be to seek out the particular mental or moral attitude in which, when it came 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!" — William James · 1878Combinatorial creativity1 quote
Some people are far more sensitive to resemblances, and far more ready to point out wherein they consist, than others are. They are the wits, the poets, the inventors, the scientific men, the practical geniuses. — William James · 1890Creativity1 quote
Some people are far more sensitive to resemblances, and far more ready to point out wherein they consist, than others are. They are the wits, the poets, the inventors, the scientific men, the practical geniuses. — William James · 1890Difference1 quote
An unlearned carpenter of my acquaintance once said in my hearing: "There is very little difference between one man and another; but what little there is, is very important." This distinction seems to me to go to the root of the matter. — William James · 1896Different perspectives1 quote
Genius... Means little more than the faculty of perceiving in an unhabitual way. — William James · 1890Evidence1 quote
Objective evidence and certitude are doubtless very fine ideals to play with, but where on this moonlit and dream-visited planet are they found? — William James · 1896Existence of God1 quote
I myself believe that the evidence for God lies primarily in inner personal experiences. — William James · 1906Formation of character1 quote
We are spinning our own fates, good or evil, and never to be undone. Every smallest stroke of virtue or of vice leaves its never so little scar... Nothing we ever do is, in strict scientific literalness, wiped out. — William James · 1890Genius1 quote
Genius... Means little more than the faculty of perceiving in an unhabitual way. — William James · 1890Habits1 quote
Habit is... The enormous flywheel of society, its most precious conservative agent. It alone is what keeps us all within the bounds of ordinance. — William James · 1890Human potential1 quote
Most people live, whether physically, intellectually or morally, in a very restricted circle of their potential being. They make use of a very small portion of their possible consciousness, and of their soul's resources in general, much like a man who, out of his whole bodily organism, should get into a habit of using and moving only his little finger. Great emergencies and crises show us how much greater our vital resources are than we had supposed. — William James · 1906Indecision1 quote
There is no more miserable human being than one in whom nothing is habitual but indecision. — William James · 1890Judgment1 quote
The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook. — William James · 1890Love of money1 quote
The moral flabbiness born of the exclusive worship of the bitch-goddess success. That-with the squalid cash interpretation put on the word success-is our national disease. — William James · 1906Man and animals1 quote
Man, biologically considered, and whatever else he may be in the bargain, is simply the most formidable of all the beasts of prey, and, indeed, the only one that preys systematically on its own species. — William James · 1904Man and the universe1 quote
I firmly disbelieve, myself, that our human experience is the highest form of experience extant in the universe. I believe rather that we stand in much the same relation to the whole of the universe as our canine and feline pets do to the whole of human life. They inhabit our drawing-rooms and libraries. They take part in scenes of whose significance they have no inkling. They are merely tangent to curves of history the beginnings and ends and forms of which pass wholly beyond their ken. So we are tangent to the wider life of things. — William James · 1906Man's cruelty to man1 quote
Man, biologically considered, and whatever else he may be in the bargain, is simply the most formidable of all the beasts of prey, and, indeed, the only one that preys systematically on its own species. — William James · 1904Meaning of life1 quote
The philosophy which is so important in each of us is not a technical matter; it is our more or less dumb sense of what life honestly and deeply means. It is only partly got from books; it is our individual way of just seeing and feeling the total push and pressure of the cosmos. — William James · 1906Mindfulness1 quote
Let anyone try, I will not say to arrest, but to notice or attend to, the present moment of time. One of the most baffling experiences occurs. Where is it, this present? It has melted in our grasp, fled ere we could touch it, gone in the instant of becoming. — William James · 1890Moral theory1 quote
An act has no ethical quality whatever unless it be chosen out of several all equally possible. — William James · 1890Nature of God1 quote
The God whom science recognizes must be a God of universal laws exclusively, a God who does a wholesale, not a retail business. He cannot accommodate his processes to the convenience of individuals. — William James · 1902Nature of man1 quote
Man, biologically considered, and whatever else he may be in the bargain, is simply the most formidable of all the beasts of prey, and, indeed, the only one that preys systematically on its own species. — William James · 1904Nature of time1 quote
Let anyone try, I will not say to arrest, but to notice or attend to, the present moment of time. One of the most baffling experiences occurs. Where is it, this present? It has melted in our grasp, fled ere we could touch it, gone in the instant of becoming. — William James · 1890