William James quotes

“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

“Common sense and a sense of humor are the same thing, moving at different speeds. A sense of humor is just common sense, dancing.”

— William James

“Whenever you're in conflict with someone, there is one factor that can make the difference between damaging your relationship and deepening it. That factor is attitude.”

— William James

“Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the fact.”

— William James

“Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.”

— William James

“The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes.”

— William James

“Belief creates the actual fact.”

— William James

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

— William James

“I don't sing because I'm happy; I'm happy because I sing.”

— William James

“If you believe that feeling bad or worrying long enough will change a past or future event, then you are residing on another planet with a different reality system.”

— William James

“A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices.”

— 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

“This life is worth living, we can say, since it is what we make it.”

— William James

“Human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind.”

— William James

“The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated.”

— William James

“Action seems to follow feeling, but really action and feeling go together; and by regulating the action, which is under the more direct control of the will, we can indirectly regulate the feeling, which is not.”

— William James

“Wisdom is learning what to overlook.”

— William James

“It is our attitude at the beginning of a difficult task which, more than anything else, will affect its successful outcome.”

— William James

“A chain is no stronger than its weakest link, and life is after all a chain.”

— William James

“Be willing to have it so. Acceptance of what has happened is the first step to overcoming the consequences of any misfortune.”

— William James

“Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task.”

— William James

“Is life worth living? It all depends on the liver.”

— William James

“Every man who possibly can should force himself to a holiday of a full month in a year, whether he feels like taking it or not.”

— William James

“Metaphysics means nothing but an unusually obstinate effort to think clearly.”

— William James

“Compared to what we ought to be, we are half awake.”

— William James

“To spend life for something which outlasts it.”

— 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

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

— William James

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

— William James

“We don't laugh because we're happy - we're happy because we laugh.”

— William James