Top 500 William James Quotes (2023 Update)

1. “If you can change your mind, you can change your life.”

— William James

2. “Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will help create the fact.”

— William James

Featured in: Positive Quotes, Life Quotes, Bullying Quotes, Encouraging Quotes

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

— William James

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

— William James

5. “Thoughts become perception, perception becomes reality. Alter your thoughts, alter your reality.”

— William James

Featured in: Quotes About Reality

6. “We are like islands in the sea, separate on the surface but connected in the deep.”

— William James

7. “The greatest discovery of any generation is that a human can alter his life by altering his attitude.”

— William James

Featured in: Attitude Quotes

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

— William James

Featured in: Knowledge Quotes, Wise Quotes

9. “I don’t sing because I’m happy; I’m happy because I sing.”

— William James

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

— William James

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

— William James

Featured in: Attitude Quotes

12. “Action may not always bring happiness, but there is no happiness without action. ”

— William James

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

— William James

14. “Belief creates the actual fact.”

— William James

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

— William James

Featured in: Self Esteem Quotes, Quality Quotes

16. “Procrastination is attitude’s natural assassin. There’s nothing so fatiguing as an uncompleted task.”

— William James

Featured in: Procrastination Quotes

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

— William James

Featured in: Relationship Quotes

18. “Begin to be now what you will be hereafter. ”

— William James

19. “The great use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it.”

— William James

20. “Anything you may hold firmly in your imagination can be yours.”

— William James

21. “The greatest revolution of our generation is the discovery that human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives.”

— William James

22. “Pessimism leads to weakness, optimism to power.”

— William James

23. “Seek out that particular mental attribute which makes you feel most deeply and vitally alive, along with which comes the inner voice which says, ‘This is the real me,’ and when you have found that attitude, follow it.”

— William James

24. “No decision is, in itself, a decision.”

— William James

Featured in: Decision Quotes

25. “To change one’s life: 1. Start immediately. 2. Do it flamboyantly. 3. No exceptions.”

— William James

26. “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.”

— William James

27. “Beyond the very extreme of fatigue and distress, we may find amounts of ease and power we never dreamed ourselves to own; sources of strength never taxed at all because we never push through the obstruction”

— William James

28. “Give your dreams all you’ve got, and you’ll be amazed at the energy that comes out of you.”

— William James

29. “Formula to live your dream: 1. Be bold. 2. Begin now, 3. No exceptions.”

— William James

30. “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

31. “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

Featured in: Fear Quotes, History Quotes, Past Quotes

32. “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

33. “We don’t laugh because we’re happy, we’re happy because we laugh.”

— William James

34. “To kill time is not murder, it’s suicide.”

— William James

35. “Psychology is a science, and teaching is an art; and sciences never generate arts directly out of themselves.”

— William James

Featured in: Teaching Quotes

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

— William James

37. “Acceptance of what has happened is the first step to overcoming the consequences of any misfortune.”

— William James

38. “Our view of the world is truly shaped by what we decide to hear.”

— William James

39. “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

40. “Agisci come se quel che fai, facesse la differenza. La fa!”

— William James

41. “Faith means belief in something concerning which doubt is theoretically possible.”

— William James

Featured in: Philosophical Quotes

42. “Your hopes, dreams and aspirations are legitimate. They are trying to take you airborne, above the clouds, above the storms, if you only let them.”

— William James

43. “So it is with children who learn to read fluently and well: They begin to take flight into whole new worlds as effortlessly as young birds take to the sky.”

— William James

Featured in: Reading Quotes

44. “All of our life is but a mass of small habits – practical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual – that bear us irresistibly toward our destiny.”

— William James

45. “Everybody should do at least two things each day that he hates to do, just for practice.”

— William James

46. “Since you make evil or good by your own thoughts, it is your ruling of your thoughts which proves to be your principal concern.”

— William James

47. “My first act of free will shall be to believe in free will.”

— William James

Featured in: Firsts Quotes

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

— William James

49. “Act the part and you will become the part.”

— William James

50. “The greatest discovery of the 20th Century is that our attitude of mind determines our quality of life, not circumstances.”

— William James