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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:
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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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In the second half of his prologue, Duhigg explains his book’s central thesis: habits are the key to people’s success and happiness, and people can learn to control these habits if they acquire the right strategies and mindset. He begins by citing the influential psychologist William James, who believed that habits are the foundation for human life. Because habits automate the majority of people’s reactions and decisions, James argued, they determine how people respond to most of the crucial situations they face. People with good habits tend to come out the other end successful. Thus, James viewed habits as a Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possim
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.
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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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Duhigg concludes The Power of Habit right where he began: with William James’s influential theory about habits. Like Duhigg, James believed that habits are central to human life, and people have the power to control their habits. Duhigg also explains how James came to believe this: James was on the brink of suicide, when he realized that he had nothing to lose by blindly believing in his own free will. So he tried it for a year—and completely changed everything in his life. He never went back. Instead, he realized that belief was actually what he needed all along. Duhigg Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta imped
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William James Character Timeline in The Power of Habit
The timeline below shows where the character William James appears in The Power of Habit. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Prologue: The Habit Cure
...they eat for lunch? What did they do when they got home from work? William James famously wrote that “all our life, so far as it has definite form, is but...
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Chapter 9: The Neurology of Free Will: Are We Responsible for Our Habits?
In the prologue, Duhigg quoted William James: “all our life, so far as it has definite form, is but a mass of...
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...everywhere, but they’re easy to forget unless we make a point of looking at them. James also compared habits to water: just like water carves out channels for itself, then repeatedly...
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