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
A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices.
Acceptance of what has happened is the first step to overcoming the consequences of any misfortune.
Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task.
Begin to be now what you will be hereafter.
When you have to make a choice and don't make it, that is in itself a choice.
It is our attitude at the beginning of a difficult task which, more than anything else, will affect its successful outcome.
The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes.
The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated.
Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.
The great use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it.
Fatalism, whose solving word in all crises of behavior is ''All striving is vain,'' will never reign supreme, for the impulse to take life strivingly is indestructible in the race. Moral creeds which speak to that impulse will be widely successful in spite of inconsistency, vagueness, and shadowy determination of expectancy. Man needs a rule for his will, and will invent one if one be not given him.
Psychology is the Science of Mental Life, both of its phenomena and their conditions.
. . . I do not see how it is possible that creatures in such different positions and with such different powers as human individuals are, should have exactly the same functions nor should we be expected to work out identical solutions. Each, from his peculiar angle of observation, takes in a certain sphere of fact and trouble, which each must deal with in a unique manner.
If the 'searching of our heart and reins' be the purpose of this human drama, then what is sought seems to be what effort we can make. He who can make none is but a shadow; he who can make much is a hero.