--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I originally studied medicine in order to…" description: "\"I originally studied medicine in order to be a physiologist, but I drifted into psychology and philosophy from a sort of fatality. I never had any phil..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6fe/william-james-228_fatality_i-originally-studied-medicine-in-order-t_1856622.png" --- # I originally studied medicine in order to be a… ![“I originally studied medicine in order to be a physiologist, but I drifted into psychology and philosophy from a sort of fatality. I never had any philosophic instruction, the first lecture on psychology I ever heard being the first I ever gave.” quote by William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6fe/william-james-228_fatality_i-originally-studied-medicine-in-order-t_1856622.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6fe/william-james-228_fatality_i-originally-studied-medicine-in-order-t_1856622.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6fe/william-james-228_fatality_i-originally-studied-medicine-in-order-t_1856622.png) > “I originally studied medicine in order to be a physiologist, but I drifted into psychology and philosophy from a sort of fatality. I never had any philosophic instruction, the first lecture on psychology I ever heard being the first I ever gave.” [William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. James describes his accidental shift from medicine to psychology and philosophy, highlighting serendipity in career paths. **In simple terms:** He drifted into psychology and philosophy by chance. Key Takeaway Embrace unexpected opportunities. Themes career serendipity discipline learning Mood reflective inspirational Type lecture personal narrative philosophical When to use this quote - academic choices - career changes - personal growth - self‑discovery Key Concepts interdisciplinary self‑directed learning Questions to Reflect On - What unexpected paths have shaped your career? - How can you turn chance into purpose? A Different Perspective Lack of formal training may limit depth. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Fatality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fatality/) [Lectures](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lectures/) [Medicine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/medicine/) [Order](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/order/) [Philosophy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/philosophy/) [Psychology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/psychology/) ## Related quotes > [Originally I studied as a musician, a classical pianist. That was my career before I took up acting in my late 20s.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christian-mckay/originally-i-studied-as-a-musician-a-classical-pianist-that-was-my/) [Christian McKay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christian-mckay/) > [I really do love psychology and philosophy but I'm no professional at these things. Because I love seeing the true side of humanity, as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yoko-taro/i-really-do-love-psychology-and-philosophy-but-i-m-no-professional-at/) [Yoko Taro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yoko-taro/) > [For me, Buddhism is a psychology and a philosophy that provides a means, upayas, for working with the mind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-halifax/for-me-buddhism-is-a-psychology-and-a-philosophy-that-provides-a/) [Joan Halifax](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-halifax/) > [Before taking up law, I studied medicine for six months and then tried my hand at fashion designing for another six months. I wanted…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mawra-hocane/before-taking-up-law-i-studied-medicine-for-six-months-and-then-tried/) [Mawra Hocane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mawra-hocane/) > [I studied medicine so I could help others - set a leg or whatever - and it's given me a great deal of satisfaction.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fred-hollows/i-studied-medicine-so-i-could-help-others-set-a-leg-or-whatever-and/) [Fred Hollows](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fred-hollows/) > [I have written two medical novels. I have never studied medicine, never seen an operation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/taylor-caldwell/i-have-written-two-medical-novels-i-have-never-studied-medicine-never/) [Taylor Caldwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/taylor-caldwell/) > [Old-fashioned determinism was what we may call hard determinism. It did not shrink from such words as fatality, bondage of the will, necessitation, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-james/old-fashioned-determinism-was-what-we-may-call-hard-determinism-it/) [William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/) > [Humanism . . . is not a single hypothesis or theorem, and it dwells on no new facts. It is rather a slow shifting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-james/humanism-is-not-a-single-hypothesis-or-theorem-and-it-dwells-on-no/) [William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/) > [In this real world of sweat and dirt, it seems to me that when a view of things is 'noble,' that ought to count…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-james/in-this-real-world-of-sweat-and-dirt-it-seems-to-me-that-when-a-view/) [William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/) > [Good-humor is a philosophic state of mind; it seems to say to Nature that we take her no more seriously than she takes us.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-james/good-humor-is-a-philosophic-state-of-mind-it-seems-to-say-to-nature/) [William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/) > [The absolute things, the last things, the overlapping things, are the truly philosophic concerns; all superior minds feel seriously about them, and the mind…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-james/the-absolute-things-the-last-things-the-overlapping-things-are-the/) [William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/) > [All our scientific and philosophic ideals are altars to unknown gods.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-james/all-our-scientific-and-philosophic-ideals-are-altars-to-unknown-gods/) [William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/) > [“It was just the human fatality of things, a cancer worse than blame, or hate or love.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-miller/it-was-just-the-human-fatality-of-things-a-cancer-worse-than-blame-or/) [Henry Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-miller/) > [PICKANINNY, n. The young of the "Procyanthropos", or "Americanus dominans". It is small, black and charged with political fatalities.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ambrose-bierce/pickaninny-n-the-young-of-the-procyanthropos-or-americanus-dominans/) [Ambrose Bierce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ambrose-bierce/) > [If liberals can seize our guns because they are dangerous, we have no chance of holding on to our cars and our homes. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-craig-roberts/if-liberals-can-seize-our-guns-because-they-are-dangerous-we-have-no/) [Paul Craig Roberts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-craig-roberts/) ## More by William James > [Effort is the one strictly undervalued and original contribution we make to this world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-james/effort-is-the-one-strictly-undervalued-and-original-contribution-we/) [William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/) > [We are all potentially such sick men. The sanest and best of us are of one clay with lunatics and prison-inmates. And whenever we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-james/we-are-all-potentially-such-sick-men-the-sanest-and-best-of-us-are-of/) [William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/) > [In the dim background of our mind we know meanwhile what we ought to be doing: getting up, dressing ourselves, answering the person who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-james/in-the-dim-background-of-our-mind-we-know-meanwhile-what-we-ought-to/) [William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/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 keep unaltered…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-james/our-minds-thus-grow-in-spots-and-like-grease-spots-the-spots-spread/) [William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/) > [Circumstance does not make me, it reveals me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-james/circumstance-does-not-make-me-it-reveals-me/) [William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/) > ['Facts' are the bounds of human knowledge, set for it, not by it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-james/facts-are-the-bounds-of-human-knowledge-set-for-it-not-by-it/) [William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/) > [Woe to him whose beliefs play fast and loose with the order which realities follow in his experience; they will lead him nowhere or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-james/woe-to-him-whose-beliefs-play-fast-and-loose-with-the-order-which/) [William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/) > [We never fully grasp the import of any true statement until we have a clear notion of what the opposite untrue statement would be.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-james/we-never-fully-grasp-the-import-of-any-true-statement-until-we-have-a/) [William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/) > [It is your friends who make your world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-james/it-is-your-friends-who-make-your-world/) [William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/) > [Human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-james/human-beings-can-alter-their-lives-by-altering-their-attitudes-of-mind/) [William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/) > [Most people, probably, are in doubt about certain matters ascribed to their past. They may have seen them, may have said them, done them,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-james/most-people-probably-are-in-doubt-about-certain-matters-ascribed-to/) [William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/) > [“How soon, indeed, are human things forgotten! As we meet here this morning, the Southern sun is shining on their place of burial, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-james/how-soon-indeed-are-human-things-forgotten-as-we-meet-here-this/) [William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/) > [There can be no difference anywhere that does not make a difference somewhere.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-james/there-can-be-no-difference-anywhere-that-does-not-make-a-difference/) [William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/) > [It is wrong always, everywhere, and for everyone, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-james/it-is-wrong-always-everywhere-and-for-everyone-to-believe-anything/) [William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/) > [The pragmatist turns away from abstraction and insufficiency, from verbal solutions, from bad a priori reasons, from fixed principles, closed systems, and pretended absolutes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-james/the-pragmatist-turns-away-from-abstraction-and-insufficiency-from/) [William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/) [Explore all 854 William James quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/) ## More Fatality quotes > [If liberals can seize our guns because they are dangerous, we have no chance of holding on to our cars and our homes. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-craig-roberts/if-liberals-can-seize-our-guns-because-they-are-dangerous-we-have-no/) [Paul Craig Roberts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-craig-roberts/) > [PICKANINNY, n. The young of the "Procyanthropos", or "Americanus dominans". It is small, black and charged with political fatalities.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ambrose-bierce/pickaninny-n-the-young-of-the-procyanthropos-or-americanus-dominans/) [Ambrose Bierce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ambrose-bierce/) > [“It was just the human fatality of things, a cancer worse than blame, or hate or love.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-miller/it-was-just-the-human-fatality-of-things-a-cancer-worse-than-blame-or/) [Henry Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-miller/) > [The supportive care that we're able to provide in the United States is so much better, so much more sophisticated, than what's available in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-schaffner/the-supportive-care-that-we-re-able-to-provide-in-the-united-states/) William Schaffner > [We have come to think of taking offence as a fundamental right. We value very little more highly than our rage, which gives us,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/we-have-come-to-think-of-taking-offence-as-a-fundamental-right-we/) [Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/) > [An almost inexorable baseball law: A Red Sox ship with a single leak will always find a way to sink No team is worshipped…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-boswell/an-almost-inexorable-baseball-law-a-red-sox-ship-with-a-single-leak/) [Thomas Boswell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-boswell/) > [All that remains is a fate whose outcome alone is fatal. Outside of that single fatality of death, everything, joy or happiness, is liberty.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-camus/all-that-remains-is-a-fate-whose-outcome-alone-is-fatal-outside-of/) [Albert Camus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-camus/) > [Thou and I are but the blind instruments of some irresistible fatality, that hurries us along, like goodly vessels driving before the storm, which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-scott/thou-and-i-are-but-the-blind-instruments-of-some-irresistible/) [Walter Scott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-scott/) > [There is a fatality about good resolutions – that they are always made too late](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/there-is-a-fatality-about-good-resolutions-that-they-are-always-made/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [Plutonium is so hazardous that if you had a fully developed nuclear economy with breeder reactors fueled with plutonium, and you managed to contain…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-gofman/plutonium-is-so-hazardous-that-if-you-had-a-fully-developed-nuclear/) [John Gofman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-gofman/) > [The idea of death, the fear of it, haunts the human animal like nothing else; it is a mainspring of human activity - designed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-becker/the-idea-of-death-the-fear-of-it-haunts-the-human-animal-like-nothing/) [Ernest Becker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-becker/) > [Statistically there's only one crocodile-related human fatality per year in the whole of Australia.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-irwin/statistically-there-s-only-one-crocodile-related-human-fatality-per/) [Steve Irwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-irwin/) > [I sometimes feel a great ennui, profound emptiness, doubts which sneer in my face in the midst of the most spontaneous satisfactions. Well, I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gustave-flaubert/i-sometimes-feel-a-great-ennui-profound-emptiness-doubts-which-sneer/) [Gustave Flaubert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gustave-flaubert/) > [Superstition is related to this life, religion to the next; superstition is allied to fatality, religion to virtue; it is by the vivacity of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/madame-de-stael/superstition-is-related-to-this-life-religion-to-the-next/) [Madame de Stael](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/madame-de-stael/) > [There is a rare exception of mainstream sports that have a fatality rate. That's motor sports and rodeo, ... football, baseball, basketball, hockey, you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/don-andrews/there-is-a-rare-exception-of-mainstream-sports-that-have-a-fatality/) Don Andrews [Browse all 53 Fatality quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fatality/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I originally studied medicine in order to be a physiologist, but I drifted into psychology and philosophy from a sort of fatality. 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