William James Quotes

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. [Manners]

The same space of time seems shorter as we grow older... in youth we may have an absolutely new experience, subjective or objective, every hour of the day. Apprehension is vivid, retentiveness strong, and our recollections of that time, like those of a time spent in rapid and interesting travel, are of something intricate, multitudinous, and longdrawn out. But as each passing year converts some of this experience into automatic routine which we hardly note at all, the days and the week smooth themselves out in recollection to contentless units, and the years grow hollow and collapse.
[Age]

The sovereign cure for worry is prayer.

The stream of thought flows on; but most of its segments fall into the bottomless abyss of oblivion. Of some, no memory survives the instant of their passage. Of others, it is confined to a few moments, hours or days. Others, again, leave vestiges which are indestructible, and by means of which they may be recalled as long as life endures.

The sway of alcohol over mankind is unquestionably due to its power to stimulate the mystical faculties of human nature, usually crushed to earth by the cold facts and dry criticisms of the sober hour.

The thinker philosophizes as the lover loves. Even were the consequences not only useless but harmful, he must obey his impulse. [Instincts]

The unrest which keeps the never-stopping clock metaphysics going is the thought that the non-existence of this world is just as possible as its existence. [Philosophy]

The war against war is going to be no holiday excursion or camping party. The military feelings are too deeply grounded to abdicate their place among our ideals until better substitutes are offered than the glory and shame that come to nations as well as individuals from the ups and downs of politics and the vicissitudes of trade. [War]

The whole drift of my education goes to persuade me that the world of our present consciousness is only one out of many worlds of consciousness that exist.

The world is all the richer for having a devil in it, so long as we keep our foot upon his neck.

The world we see that seems so insane is the result of a belief system that is not working. To perceive the world differently, we must be willing to change our belief system, let the past slip away, expand our sense of now, and dissolve the fear in our minds. [Change]

There is an organic affinity between joyousness and tenderness, and their companionship in the saintly life need in no way occasion surprise.

There is but one cause of human failure. And that is man's lack of faith in his true Self.

There is but one indefectibly certain truth, and that is the truth that pyrrhonistic scepticism itself leaves standing, - the truth that the present phenomenon of consciousness exists.

There is but one unconditional commandment, which is that we should seek incessantly, with fear and trembling, so to vote and to act as to bring about the very largest total universe of good which we can see.

There is no more miserable human being than one in whom nothing is habitual but indecision. [Decisions]

There is only one thing a philosopher can be relied upon to do, and that is to contradict other philosophers.

There must be something solemn, serious, and tender about any attitude which we denominate religious. If glad, it must not grin or snicker; if sad, it must not scream or curse.

These then are my last words to you. Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the fact.

This life is worth living, we can say, since it is what we make it, from the moral point of view. [Life]