William James

Man alone of all the creatures of earth can change his own pattern. Man alone is the architect of his own destiny.

William James

Man lives for science as well as bread.

William James

Man’s chief difference from the brutes lies in the exuberant excess of his subjective propensities. Prune his extravagance, sober him, and you undo him.

William James

Mankind’s common instinct for reality has always held the world to be essentially a theatre for heroism.

William James

Marvelous as may be the power of my dog to understand my moods, deathless as his affection and fidelity, his mental state is as unsolved a mystery to me as it was to my remotest ancestor.

William James

Materialism means simply the denial that the moral order is eternal, and the cutting off of ultimate hopes; spiritualism means theaffirmation of an eternal moral order and the letting loose of hope.

William James

Men are now proud of belonging to a conquering nation, and without a murmur they lay down their persons and their wealth, if by so doing they may fend off subjection.

William James

Metaphysics means nothing but an unusually obstinate effort to think clearly.

William James

Most men’s friendships are too inarticulate.

William James

Most people, probably, are in doubt about certain matters ascribed to their past. They may have seen them, may have said them, done them, or they may only have dreamed or imagined they did so.

William James