William James
William James
William Jameswas an American philosopher and psychologist who was also trained as a physician. The first educator to offer a psychology course in the United States, James was one of the leading thinkers of the late nineteenth century and is believed by many to be one of the most influential philosophers the United States has ever produced, while others have labelled him the "Father of American psychology". Along with Charles Sanders Peirce and John Dewey, he is considered to be...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPhilosopher
Date of Birth11 January 1842
CityNew York City, NY
CountryUnited States of America
All the qualities of a man acquire dignity when he knows that the service of the collectivity that owns him needs them. If proud of the collectivity, his own pride rises in proportion. No collectivity is like an army for nourishing such pride....
The desire to gain wealth and the fear to lose it are our chief breeders of cowardice and propagators of corruption.
That which is most personal, is most interesting.
You can't out-perform your self-image.
In the matter of belief, we are all extreme conservatives.
Once a decision is reached, stop worrying and start working.
We divert our attention from disease and death as much as we can; the slaughterhouses are huddled out of sight and never mentioned, so that the world we recognize officially in literature and in society is a poetic fiction far handsomer, cleaner and better than the world that really is.
There can be no difference anywhere that does not make a difference somewhere.
In this real world of sweat and dirt, it seems to me that when a view of things is 'noble,' that ought to count as presumption against its truth, and as a philosophic disqualification. The prince of darkness may be a gentleman, as we are told he is, but whatever the God of earth and heaven is, he can surely be no gentleman.
It is very important that teachers should realize the importance of habit.
An experience, perceptual or conceptual, must conform to reality in order to be true
Owing to the fact that all experience is a process, no point of view can ever be the last one
Truth is one species of good, and not, as is usually supposed, a category distinct from good, and co-ordinate with it
I am well aware how odd it must seem to some of you to hear me say that an idea is true so long as to believe it is profitable to our lives