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There must be something solemn, serious, and tender about any attitude which we denominate religious. If glad, it must not grin or snicker if sad, it must not scream or curse.

William James

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William James
Age: 68 †
Born: 1842
Born: January 11
Died: 1910
Died: August 26
Philosopher
Physician
Psychologist
University Teacher
W. James
Something
Tenderness
Scream
Curse
Glad
Snicker
Attitude
Snickers
Serious
Grin
Religious
Solemn
Must
Tender

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You make a great, very great mistake, if you think that psychology, being the science of the mind's laws, is something from which you can deduce definite programmes and schemes and methods of instruction for immediate schoolroom use.
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When thoughts do not neutralize an undesirable emotion, action will.
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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.
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No more fiendish punishment could be devised, were such a thing physically possible, than that one should be turned loose in society and remain absolutely unnoticed.
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A man with no philosophy in him is the most inauspicious and unprofitable of all possible social mates.
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The history of philosophy is to a great extent that of a certain clash of human temperaments.
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All the qualities of a man acquire dignity when he knows that the service of the collectivity that owns him needs them. If proud of the collectivity, his own pride rises in proportion. No collectivity is like an army for nourishing such pride.
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Man lives in only one small room of the enormous house of his consciousness.
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But facts are facts, and if we only get enough of them theyare sure to combine.
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The impulse to take life strivingly is indestructible in the race.
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'What would be better for us to believe!' This sounds very like a definition of truth
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The perfection of rottenness.
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A winner's attitude: it may be difficult, but it's possible. A loser's attitude: It may be possible, but it's too difficult.
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Man can alter his life by altering his thinking.
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