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Quotes from The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy — William James

1842–1910 United States

← All quotes by William James

13 quotes

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

The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy (1897)

Everything which is demanded is by that fact a good.

The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy (1897)

As a rule we disbelieve all the facts and theories for which we have no use.

The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy (1897)

No concrete test of what is really true has ever been agreed upon.

The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy (1897)

Objective evidence and certitude are doubtless very fine ideals to play with, but where on this moonlit and dream-visited planet are they found?

The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy (1897)

In the deepest heart of all of us there is a corner in which the ultimate mystery of things works sadly.

The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy (1897)

All the higher, more penetrating ideals are revolutionary. They present themselves far less in the guise of effects of past experience than in that of probable causes of future experience.

The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy (1897)

This life is worth living, we can say, since it is what we make it, from the moral point of view.

The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy (1897)

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 Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy (1897)

An unlearned carpenter of my acquaintance once said in my hearing: "There is very little difference between one man and another; but what little there is, is very important." This distinction seems to me to go to the root of the matter.

The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy (1897)

There is but one unconditional commandment, which is that we should seek incessantly, with fear and trembling, so to vote and to act as to bring about the very largest total universe of good which we can see.

The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy (1897)

If this life be not a real fight, in which something is eternally gained for the universe by success, it is no better than a game of private theatricals from which one may withdraw at will. But it feels like a real fight.

The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy (1897)

Need and struggle are what excite and inspire us; our hour of triumph is what brings the void. Not the Jews of the captivity, but those of the days of Solomon's glory are those from whom the pessimistic utterances in our Bible come.

The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy (1897)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: William James (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.