Keep the faculty of effort alive in you by a little gratuitous exercise every day. William James More Quotes by William James More Quotes From William James The instinct of ownership is fundamental in man's nature. William James wisdomrightsmen We are all potentially such sick men. The sanest and best of us are of one clay with lunatics and prison-inmates. And whenever we feel this, such a sense of the vanity of our voluntary career comes over us, that all our morality appears but as a plaster hiding a sore it can never cure, and all our well-doing as the hollowest substitute for that well-being that our lives ought to be grounded in, but alas! are not. William James vanitymenlife 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!. William James successattitudelife We are not only gregarious animals, liking to be in sight of our fellows, but we have an innate propensity to get ourselves noticed, and noticed favorably, by our kind. William James societysightanimal Truth lives, in fact, for the most part on a credit system William James credittruthfacts The ideas gained by men before they are twenty-five are practically the only ideas they shall have in their lives. William James twentiesmenideas True to her inveterate habit, rationalism reverts to 'principles,' and thinks that when an abstraction once is named, we own an oracular solution. William James habitprinciplesthinking First... a new theory is attacked as absurd; then it is admitted to be true, but obvious and insignificant; finally it is seen to be so important that its adversaries claim that they themselves discovered it. William James importantdiscoveryscience So our self-feeling in this world depends entirely on what we back ourselves to be and do. William James selffeelingsworld Man, whatever else he may be, is primarily a practical being, whose mind is given him to aid in adapting him to this world's life William James educationalmenphilosophy With mere good intentions hell is proverbially paved. William James good-intentionsintentionhell It is wrong always, everywhere, and for everyone, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence. William James philosophicalgovernmentbelieve 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 godlawscience To spend life for something which outlasts it. William James achievement I will act as if I do make a difference. William James making-a-differencedifferencesaction A purely disembodied human emotion is a nonentity. William James nonentityemotionhumans Religious awe is the same organic thrill which we feel in a forest at twilight, or in a mountain gorge. William James mountaintwilightreligious When a thing is new, people say: ‘It is not true.’ Later, when its truth becomes obvious, they say: ‘It is not important.’ Finally, when its importance cannot be denied, they say: ‘Anyway, it is not new. William James importanceimportantpeople You may not get everything you dream about, but you will never get anything you don't dream about. William James dreammay Tell him to live by yes and no - yes to everything good, no to everything bad. William James yes-and-nolive-by
