William James Zitate auf Englisch

Zitat des Tages von 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.

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

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

William James

How to gain, how to keep, how to recover happiness is in fact for most men at all times the secret motive of all they do, and of all they are willing to endure.

William James

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

William James

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

William James

The greatest enemy of any one of our truths may be the rest of our truths.

William James

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

William James

To spend life for something which outlasts it.

William James

Action may not bring happiness but there is no happiness without action.

William James

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

William James

Individuality is founded in feeling; and the recesses of feeling, the darker, blinder strata of character, are the only places in the world in which we catch real fact in the making, and directly perceive how events happen, and how work is actually done.

William James

A man has as many social selves as there are individuals who recognize him.

William James

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

William James

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

William James

If any organism fails to fulfill its potentialities, it becomes sick.

William James

If merely 'feeling good' could decide, drunkenness would be the supremely valid human experience.

William James

To be radical, an empiricism must neither admit into its constructions any element that is not directly experienced, nor exclude from them any element that is directly experienced.

William James

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

William James

To change ones life: Start immediately. Do it flamboyantly.

William James

Man can alter his life by altering his thinking.

William James

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

William James

The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.

William James

The best argument I know for an immortal life is the existence of a man who deserves one.

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

In the dim background of mind we know what we ought to be doing but somehow we cannot start.

William James

If you want a quality, act as if you already had it.

William James

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

William James

Pessimism leads to weakness, optimism to power.

William James

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.

William James

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

William James

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

William James

Do something everyday for no other reason than you would rather not do it, so that when the hour of dire need draws nigh, it may find you not unnerved and untrained to stand the test.

William James

What every genuine philosopher (every genuine man, in fact) craves most is praise although the philosophers generally call it recognition!

William James

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

William James

An act has no ethical quality whatever unless it be chosen out of several all equally possible.

William James

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

William James