3 quotations linked to Talks To Teachers On Psychology; And To Students On Some Of Life's Ideals by or associated with William James, with source notes, explanations and related topics.
Habit, effort, attention, action, education, training and the practical formation of conduct.
Use these links when you want to inspect the wording in its wider work or edition.
“Seize the very first possible opportunity to act on every resolution you make.”
The advice links resolution with prompt action, arguing that intentions shape habit more effectively when they are converted into behavior at the first available opportunity.
Source note: Talks To Teachers, chapter on Habit; Project Gutenberg #16287. This is the opening clause of James’s third habit-forming maxim; the longer sentence also refers to emotional promptings toward desired habits.
“Keep the faculty of effort alive in you by a little gratuitous exercise every day.”
James recommends deliberately exercising effort in small ways so that the capacity to act despite difficulty remains practiced rather than being left unused until a crisis.
Source note: Talks To Teachers, chapter on Habit; Project Gutenberg #16287. James calls this his fifth practical maxim about habits. The physiological vocabulary is historical psychology, not modern clinical guidance.
“Continuity of training is the great means of making the nervous system act infallibly right.”
James emphasizes uninterrupted practice when establishing a new habit, using the physiological language of his period to argue that consistency makes desired responses increasingly automatic.
Source note: Talks To Teachers, chapter on Habit; Project Gutenberg #16287. The line follows James’s maxim against allowing exceptions before a new habit is secure; its nervous-system terminology is historically contextualized.