Belief Quotes by William James

In the matter of belief, we are all extreme conservatives.

— William James

Belief creates the actual fact.

— William James

Our beliefs are really rules for action.

— William James

Belief creates the actual fact. --William James

— William James

Our beliefs and our attention are the same fact.

— William James

Modern man . . . has not ceased to be credulous . . . the need to believe haunts him.

— William James

It is so human a book that I don't see how belief in its divine authority can survive the reading of it.

— William James

In any project the important factor is your belief. Without belief, there can be no successful outcome.

— William James

Faith means belief in something concerning which doubt is theoretically possible.

— William James

Our belief at the beginning of a doubtful undertaking is the one thing that assures the successful outcome of any venture.

— William James

I myself believe that the evidence for God lies primarily in inner personal experiences.

— William James

What the whole community comes to believe in grasps the individual as in a vise.

— William James

There is nothing so absurd that it cannot be believed as truth if repeated often enough.

— William James

The great use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it." "This life is worth living, we can…

— William James

Intellectualism' is the belief that our mind comes upon a world complete in itself, and has the duty of ascertaining its contents;…

— William James

The true is the name of whatever proves itself to be good in the way of belief, and good, too, for definite,…

— William James

Faith means belief in something concerning which doubt is still theoretically possible ... faith is the readiness to act in a cause…

— William James

I believe there is no source of deception in the investigation of nature which can compare with a fixed belief that certain…

— William James

Science herself consults her heart when she lays it down that the infinite ascertainment of fact and correction of false belief are…

— William James

Woe to him whose beliefs play fast and loose with the order which realities follow in his experience; they will lead him…

— William James

A new opinion counts as true just in proportion as it gratifies the individual's desire to assimilate the novel in his experience…

— William James

Our minds thus grow in spots; and like grease-spots, the spots spread. But we let them spread as little as possible: we…

— William James

The suspicion is in the air nowadays that the superiority of one of our formulas to another may not consist so much…

— William James

Pragmatism asks its usual question. "Grant an idea or belief to be true," it says, "what concrete difference will its being true…

— William James

That reality is 'independent' means that there is something in every experience that escapes our arbitrary control. If it be a sensible…

— William James

To begin with, our knowledge grows in spots. The spots may be large or small, but the knowledge ever grows all over...…

— William James

What interest, zest, or excitement can there be in achieving the right way, unless we are enabled to feel that the wrong…

— William James

Truths emerge from facts, but they dip forward into facts again and add to them; which facts again create or reveal new…

— William James

The world we see that seems so insane is the result of a belief system that is not working. To perceive the…

— William James

What do believers in the Absolute mean by saving that their belief affords them comfort? They mean that since in the Absolute…

— William James

To begin with our knowledge grows in spots. ..What you first gain, ... is probably a small amount of new information, a…

— William James

“Since belief is measured by action, he who forbids us to believe religion to be true, necessarily also forbids us to act…

— William James

To plead the organic causation of a religious state of mind, then, in refutation of its claim to possess superior spiritual value,…

— William James

“Our faith is faith in some one else's faith, and in the greatest matters this is most the case. Our belief in…

— William James

Belief is desecrated when given to unproved and unquestioned statements for the solace and private pleasure of the believer . . .…

— William James

“Belief and doubt are living attitudes, and involve conduct on our part. Our only way, for example, of doubting, or refusing to…

— William James

Since belief is measured by action, he who forbids us to believe religion to be true, necessarily also forbids us to act…

— William James

Considering the inner fitness of things, one would rather think that the very first act of a will endowed with freedom should…

— William James

The belief in free-will is not in the least incompatible with the belief in Providence, provided you do not restrict the Providence…

— William James