William James

They conquer who believe they can. He has not learned the first lesson of life who does not every day surmount a fear.

Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will help create the fact.

Much of what we call evil is due entirely to the way men take the phenomenon. It can so often be converted into a bracing and tonic good by a simple change of the sufferer's inner attitude from one of fear to one of fight; its string can so often depart and turn into a relish when, after vainly seeking to shun it, we agree to face about and bear it . . .

Democracy is still upon its trial. The civic genius of our people is its only bulwark.

A genius is the man in whom you are least likely to find the power of attending to anything insipid or distasteful in itself. He breaks his engagements, leaves his letters unanswered, neglects his family duties incorrigibly, because he is powerless to turn his attention down and back from those more interesting trains of imagery with which his genius constantly occupies his mind.

Acceptance of what has happened is the first step to overcoming the consequences of any misfortune.

Be willing to have it so. Acceptance of what has happened is the first step to overcoming the consequences of any misfortune.

The voluntary path to cheerfulness, if our spontaneous cheerfulness be lost, is to sit up cheerfully. and act and speak as if cheerfulness were already there. To feel brave,act as if we were brave, use all our will to that end, and courage will very likely replace fear. If we act as if from some better feeling, the bad feeling soon fold its tent like an Arab and silently steals away.

The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated.

It is our attitude at the beginning of a difficult task which, more than anything else, will affect its successful outcome.