Quotes by William James

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

Whatever universe a professor believes in must at any rate be a universe that lends itself to lengthy discourse. A universe definable in two sentences is something for which the professorial intellect has no use. No faith in anything of that cheap kind!

It is only by risking our persons from one hour to another that we live at all. And often enough our faith beforehand in an uncertified result is the only thing that makes the result come true.

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.

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.

If the grace of God miraculously operates, it probably operates through the subliminal door.

The god whom science recognizes must be a God of universal laws exclusively, a God who does a wholesale, not a retail business. He cannot accommodate his processes to the convenience of individuals.

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.

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

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