William James Quotes

Hogamus, higamous Man is polygamous Higamus, hogamous Woman monogamous.

Many persons nowadays seem to think that any conclusion must be very scientific if the arguments in favor of it are derived from twitching of frogs’ legs— especially if the frogs are decapitated—and that—on the other hand—any doctrine chiefly vouched for by the feelings of human beings-with heads on their shoulders—must be benighted and superstitious.

‘The true’ to put it very briefly, is only the expedient in the way of our thinking, just as ‘the right’ is only the expedient in the way of our behaving.

First, you know, a new theory is attacked as absurd; then it is admitted to be true, but obvious and insignificant; finally it is seen to be so important that its adversaries claim that they themselves discovered it.

You must bring out of each word its practical cash-value, set it at work within the stream of your experience.

Tender-minded and tough-minded.

The philosophy which is so important in each of us is not a technical matter; it is our more or less dumb sense of what life honestly and deeply means… it is our individual way of just seeing and feeling the total push and pressure of the cosmos.

Sobriety diminishes, discriminates, and says no; drunkenness expands, unites, and says yes.

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.

Man is essentially the imitative animal. His whole educability and in fact the whole history of civilization depend on this trait, which his strong tendencies to rivalry, jealousy, and acquisitiveness reinforce.

As the art of reading (after a certain stage in one’s education) is the art of skipping, so the art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook.

The baby, assailed by eyes, ears, nose, skin, and entrails at once, feels it all as one great blooming, buzzing confusion.

The aim of science is always to reduce complexity to simplicity.

But facts are facts, and if we only get enough of them they are sure to combine.

Man lives by science as well as bread.