William James

The function of ignoring, of inattention, is as vital a factor in mental progress as the function of attention itself.

William James

The greatest enemy of any one of our truths may be the rest of our truths.

William James

The greatest use of a life is to spend it on something that will outlast it.

William James

The ideas gained by men before they are twenty-five are practically the only ideas they shall have in their lives.

William James

The instinct of ownership is fundamental in man’s nature.

William James

The mind, in short, works on the data it receives very much as a sculptor works on his block of stone. In a sense the statue stoodthere from eternity. But there were a thousand different ones beside it, and the sculptor alone is to thank for having extricated this one from the rest.

William James

The more of the details of our daily life we can hand over to the effortless custody of automatism, the more our higher powers of mind will be set free for their own proper work.

William James

The most any one can do is to confess as candidly as he can the grounds for the faith that is in him, and leave his example to work on others as it may.

William James

The most peculiar social self which one is apt to have is in the mind of the person one is in love with.

William James

The one who thinks over his experiences most, and weaves them into systematic relations with each other, will be the one with the best memory.

William James