Quote

Belief is desecrated when given to unproved and unquestioned statements for the solace and private pleasure of the believer . . . It is wrong always, everywhere, and for every one, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence.

William James

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

William James
Age: 68 †
Born: 1842
Born: January 11
Died: 1910
Died: August 26
Philosopher
Physician
Psychologist
University Teacher
W. James
Anything
Everywhere
Every
Private
Unproved
Believe
Evidence
Desecrated
Always
Pleasure
Unquestioned
Belief
Insufficient
Wrong
Solace
Upon
Statements
Given
Believer

More quotes by William James

Image
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
Image
Most men have a good memory for facts connected with their own pursuits.
William James
Image
Agisci come se quel che fai, facesse la differenza. La fa!
William James
Image
Our intelligence cannot wall itself up alive, like a pupa in a chrysalis. It must at any cost keep on speaking terms with the universe that engendered it.
William James
Image
Beyond the very extreme of fatigue and distress, we may find amounts of ease and power we never dreamed ourselves to own sources of strength never taxed at all because we never push through the obstruction
William James
Image
I am, myself, a very poor visualizer and find that I can seldom call to mind even a single letter of the alphabet in purely retinal terms. I must trace the letter by running my mental eye over its contour in order that the image of it shall leave any distinctness at all.
William James
Image
Everyone knows that on any given day there are energies slumbering in him which the incitement's of that day do not call forth. Compared with what we ought to be, we are only half awake. The human individual usually lives far within his limits.
William James
Image
The aim of science is always to reduce complexity to simplicity.
William James
Image
Our belief at the beginning of a doubtful undertaking is the one thing that assures the successful outcome of any venture.
William James
Image
Every claim creates an obligation.
William James
Image
Pessimism leads to weakness. Optimism leads to power.
William James
Image
Psychology saves us from mistakes. It makes us more clear as to what we are about. We gain confidence in respect to any method which we are using as soon as we believe that it has theory as well as practice at its back.
William James
Image
The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated.
William James
Image
New habits can be launched.
William James
Image
There can be no existence of evil as a force to the healthy-minded individual.
William James
Image
What every genuine philosopher (every genuine man, in fact) craves most is praise although the philosophers generally call it recognition!
William James
Image
It is wrong always, everywhere, and for everyone, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence.
William James
Image
Give your dreams all you've got, and you'll be amazed at the energy that comes out of you.
William James
Image
Man lives for science as well as bread.
William James
Image
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 only partly got from books it is our individual way of just seeing and feeling the total push and pressure of the cosmos.
William James