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Claude C. Hopkins
William James was an influential American philosopher and psychologist active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In his 20s, James considered himself a failure, but turned his life around by forcing himself to blindly believe in his ability to improve. This shows how people have to believe in their ability to change in order to actually do so. Duhigg also repeatedly cites James’s famous quote about the significance of habits: “All our life, so far as it has a definite form, is but a mass of habits.”
William James Quotes in The Power of Habit
The The Power of Habit quotes below are all either spoken by William James or refer to William James . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Prologue
Quotes
“All our life, so far as it has definite form, is but a mass of habits,” William James wrote in 1892. Most of the choices we make each day may feel like the products of well-considered decision making, but they’re not. They’re habits. And though each habit means relatively little on its own, over time, the meals we order, what we say to our kids each night, whether we save or spend, how often we exercise, and the way we organize our thoughts and work routines have enormous impacts on our health, productivity, financial security, and happiness.
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Chapter 9
Quotes
Later, [William James] would famously write that the will to believe is the most important ingredient in creating belief in change. And that one of the most important methods for creating that belief was habits.
[…]
If you believe you can change—if you make it a habit—the change becomes real. This is the real power of habit: the insight that your habits are what you choose them to be.
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Explanation and Analysis:
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William James Quotes in The Power of Habit
The The Power of Habit quotes below are all either spoken by William James or refer to William James . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Prologue
Quotes
“All our life, so far as it has definite form, is but a mass of habits,” William James wrote in 1892. Most of the choices we make each day may feel like the products of well-considered decision making, but they’re not. They’re habits. And though each habit means relatively little on its own, over time, the meals we order, what we say to our kids each night, whether we save or spend, how often we exercise, and the way we organize our thoughts and work routines have enormous impacts on our health, productivity, financial security, and happiness.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 9
Quotes
Later, [William James] would famously write that the will to believe is the most important ingredient in creating belief in change. And that one of the most important methods for creating that belief was habits.
[…]
If you believe you can change—if you make it a habit—the change becomes real. This is the real power of habit: the insight that your habits are what you choose them to be.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
