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
Fear of life in one form or another is the great thing to exorcise.
The attitude of unhappiness is not only painful, it is mean and ugly.
Habit simplifies our movements, makes them accurate, and diminishes fatigue.
Men habitually use only a small part of the power which they actually possess.
As we take, in fact, a general view of the wonderful stream of our consciousness, what strikes us first is this different pace of its parts. Like a bird 's life, it seems to be made of an alternation of flights and perchings.
The great thing, then, in all education, is to make our nervous system our ally instead of our enemy.
The minute a man ceases to grow, no matter what his years, that minute he begins to be old.
He who refuses to embrace a unique opportunity loses the prize as surely as if he had failed.
Pessimism leads to weakness, optimism to power.
There is a voice inside which speaks and says, "This is the real me!"
Our lives are like islands in the sea, or like trees in the forest, which co-mingle their roots in the darkness underground.
One of the greatest discoveries of our time is that a man can alter the state of their life by altering the state of their mind.
The path to cheerfulness is to sit cheerfully and to act and speak as if cheerfulness were already there.
The sovereign cure for worry is prayer.