Knowledge about life is one thing; effective occupation of a place in life, with its dynamic currents passing through your being, is another.
William James

Let everything you do be done as if it makes a difference.
William James

Man can alter his life by altering his thinking.
William James

Man lives for science as well as bread.
William James

Many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices.
William James

Metaphysics means nothing but an unusually obstinate effort to think clearly.
William James

Most people never run far enough on their first wind to find out they've got a second.
William James

No matter how full a reservoir of maxims one may possess, and no matter how good one's sentiments may be, if one has not taken advantage of every concrete opportunity to act, one's character may remain entirely unaffected for the better.
William James

Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task.
William James

One hearty laugh together will bring enemies into a closer communion of heart than hours spent on both sides in inward wrestling with the mental demon of uncharitable feeling.
William James

Our errors are surely not such awfully solemn things. In a world where we are so certain to incur them in spite of all our caution, a certain lightness of heart seems healthier than this excessive nervousness on their behalf.
William James

Our esteem for facts has not neutralized in us all religiousness. It is itself almost religious. Our scientific temper is devout.
William James

Our faith is faith in someone else's faith, and in the greatest matters this is most the case.
William James

Our normal waking consciousness, rational consciousness as we call it, is but one special type of consciousness, whilst all about it, parted from it by the filmiest of screens, there lie potential forms of consciousness entirely different.
William James

Pessimism leads to weakness, optimism to power.
William James

'Pure experience' is the name I gave to the immediate flux of life which furnishes the material to our later reflection with its conceptual categories.
William James

Success or failure depends more upon attitude than upon capacity successful men act as though they have accomplished or are enjoying something. Soon it becomes a reality. Act, look, feel successful, conduct yourself accordingly, and you will be amazed at the positive results.
William James

The 'I think' which Kant said must be able to accompany all my objects, is the 'I breathe' which actually does accompany them.
William James

The aim of a college education is to teach you to know a good man when you see one.
William James

The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook.
William James