Boredom results from being attentive to the passage of time itself.
¶ (Attributed)
Quotations by ...
William James (1842-1910) American psychologist and philosopher
Truth is what works.
¶ (Attributed)
Whenever two people meet there are really six people present. There is each man as he sees himself, each man as the other person sees him, and each man as he really is.
¶ (Attributed)
Most people live, whether physically, intellectually or morally, in a very restricted circle of their potential being. They make use of a very small portion of their possible consciousness, and of their soul's resources in general, much like a man who, out of his whole bodily organism, should get into a habit of using and moving only his little finger. Great emergencies and crises show us how much greater our vital resources are than we had supposed.
¶ (Attributed)
Be willing to have it so; acceptance of what has happened is the first step to overcoming the consequences of any misfortune.
¶ (Attributed)
We are all ready to be savage in some cause. The difference between a good man and a bad one is the choice of the cause.
¶ (Attributed)
The first thing to learn in intercourse with others is non-interference with their own peculiar ways of being happy, provided those ways do not assume to interfere by violence with ours.
¶ (Attributed)
A great many people think they are thinking, when they are merely rearranging their prejudices.
¶ (Attributed)
There is no more miserable human being that one in whom nothing is habitual but indecision.
¶ (Attributed)
Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.
¶ (Attributed)
Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging of an uncompleted task.
¶ (Attributed)
The best use of life is to spend it for something that outlasts life.
¶ (Attributed)
I now perceive one immense omission in my psychology -- the deepest principle of Human Nature is the craving to be appreciated.
¶ Letters (1896)
Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will help create that fact.
¶ The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy, "Is Life Worth Living?" (1897)
To preach skepticism to us as a duty until 'sufficient evidence' for religion be found, is tantamount therefore to telling us, when in presence of the religious hypothesis, that to yield to our fear of its being error is wiser and better than to yield to our hope that it may be true. It is not intellect against all passions, then; it is only intellect with one passion laying down its law.
¶ The Will to Believe (1857)
The moral flabbiness born of the exclusive worship of the bitch-goddess SUCCESS. That — with the squalid cash interpretation put on the word success — is our national disease.
¶ Letter to H.G. Wells (11 Sep 1906)
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WIST is my collection of quotations I find meaningful, moving, amusing (intended or not), well-phrased, and/or to which I just say I "Wish I'd Said That." But just because I quote it here doesn't mean I actually agree with it. If you have any comments, corrections, or suggestions, please don't hesitate to
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