James, William

"The only way out is through."

"Does the steady and patient word of the teacher ever reach anybody's ears."

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

"Moral flabbiness born of ease is the worst thing that can happen to a nation."

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

"The most universal principle of art is that some things should be dark so that others may be bright."

"Let your life lightly dance on the edges of Time like dew on the tip of a leaf."

"The true paradises are the paradises that we have lost."

"Knowledge about life is one thing; effective occupation of a place in life, with its dynamic currents passing through your being, is another."

"The world we see that seems so insane is the result of a belief system that is not working."

"I am now quite cured of seeking pleasure in society, be it country or town. A sensible man ought to find sufficient company in himself."

"The life of the individual flows on in a stream of contagion from him who immediately precedes; the world runs as it runs because all men are made of one clay."

"Most people live in a very restricted circle of their potential being. They make use of a very small portion of their possible consciousness."

"There is absolutely nothing that can be taught to anyone unless that individual has first prepared his mind to receive it."

"The deepest craving of human nature is the need to be appreciated."

"Pragmatism represents a perfectly familiar attitude in life and thought. It means the empirical attitude, but it must be expressed more broadly."

"The senses, being immersed in the infinite, are infinite."

"Give me a library and I shall ask for nothing more."

"The greatest thing is to be honest with oneself."

"When good people in any country come under unjust laws, they do not grimly accept those laws. They work passionately and unflaggingly to change them."

"The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes."

"All the troubles of man come from his not being able to sit still in a room alone."

"Ive often thought that the best way to define a man's character is to seek out the particular mental or moral attitude in which, when it comes upon him, he felt most deeply and intensely active and alive."

"Seize the very first possible moment to act on every resolution you make, and on every emotional prompting you may experience in the direction of the habits you aspire to gain."

"The word and the thing it stands for are inextricably blended."

"In the dim background of mind we know what we ought to do and what we are."

"Demand that something extraordinary happen in your life."

"The ultimate test of what a truth means is indeed the conduct it dictates or inspires."

"If this life be not a real fight, in which something is eternally at stake, then I see no meaning in it."

"Faith is the substance of things hoped for; evidence of things not seen."