Choice

I choose to live in a city where riding my bike is a possibility -- where seeing and listening and touching helps build a sense of community -- and so I do it. I don't want to rely on more distant images to tell me about a place minutes from my home.
~ William C. ("Bill") Ayers, A Kind and Just Parent: The Children of Juvenile Court (1997).

I am not over-fond of resisting temptation.
~ William Beckford, Vathek (1816 edition; originally published in 1782)

Between two moments bliss is ripe.
~ William Blake, Europe, A Prophecy (1794). A Prophecy

When you come to the great turns of your life, be sure that you make a right choice, for every man is as his choice is.
~ William Bridge, in The Works of the Rev. William Bridge, M.A., Volume I (1845 edition). Epistle Dedicatory

[W]hether men shall pursue an immediate want or a remote one, whether they shall accept the satisfaction of a high idealistic desire or of a low material one, has always been, and so long as this planet supports human life, will continue to be, dependent in part on how vividly and impellingly these alternatives are revealed to them by leaders, thinkers, writers, and speakers.
~ William Norwood Brigance, in Quarterly Journal of Speech (1935). Can We Redefine The James Winans Theory Of Persuasion?

Follow thou thy choice.
~ William Cullen Bryant, from Poems (1832 edition). The Alcayde of Molina (From the Spanish)

I may be free and happy, if I will.
~ William Cliffton, in Poems, Chiefly Occasional (1800). Il Penseroso

Compassion and justice are companions, not choices.
~ Rev. William Sloane Coffin, Jr., from Credo (2003). Social Justice and Economic Rights

When a man is drowning, it may be better for him to try to swim than to thrash around waiting for divine intervention.
~ Rev. William Sloane Coffin, Jr.

Well, 'tis a lamentable thing, I swear, that one has not the liberty of choosing one's acquaintance as one does one's clothes.
~ William Congreve, The Way of the World (1700). Act III, scene x

Decide that you want it more than you are afraid of it.
~ Bill Cosby

[A]udiences cry in the theater when people make a hard choice -- for life. A good drama should give you every reason to say no, and yet, you say yes.
~ Bill C. Davis, in The New York Times (30 December 1984). I Had These Dialogues With Myself

Choice of aim is clearly a matter of clarification of values, especially on the choice between possible options.
~ W. Edwards Deming, The New Economics For Industry, Government & Education, 2nd ed. (1993).

Decision by majorities is as much an expendient as lighting by gas.
~ William Ewart Gladstone, Speech, House of Commons (1858).

Good or bad, everything we do is our best choice at that moment.
~ William Glasser, M.D.

We almost always have choices, and the better the choice, the more we will be in control of our lives.
~ William Glasser, M.D.

[T]he world offers an abundance of kindly light and musical sound, of strength and beauty and courage and hope, for us to gather material enough for the most profound mind's need and the broadest heart's sympathies.
~ William H. Hamby, in The Christian Register (17 November 1904). Choosing the Past

[C]onversation is always but a selection.
~ Sir William Hamilton, 9th Baronet, in Lectures on Metaphysics and Logic (1858-60). Volume I. Metaphysics. Lecture XXXIII. The Representative Faculty. Imagination

A man must take his choice not only between virtue and vice, but between different virtues. ... The graces and accomplishments of private life mar the man of business and the statesman.
~ William Hazlitt, from The Spirit of the Age (1825). Lord Eldon and Mr. Wilberforce

[R]ights are seconded by force, duties are things of choice.
~ William Hazlitt, in Winterslow, Essays and Characters Written There (1850). Project for a New Theory of Civil and Criminal Legislation (written in 1828)

There is no prejudice so strong as that which arises from a fancied exemption from all prejudice.
~ William Hazlitt, from The Round Table, Vol. I (1817). On the Tendency of Sects

We prefer ourselves to others, only because we have a more intimate consciousness and confirmed opinion of our own claims and merits than of any other person's.
~ William Hazlitt, Characteristics: in the Manner of Rochefoucault's Maxims (1823).

Without the aid of prejudice and custom, I should not be able to find my way across the room; nor know how to conduct myself in any circumstances, nor what to feel in any relation of life.
~ William Hazlitt, in Sketches and Essays (1839). On Prejudice (written in 1830)

The eyes of fear want you to put bigger locks on your doors, buy guns, close yourself off; the eyes of love, instead, see all of us as one.
~ Bill Hicks, Comedy Performance, London Dominion Theatre (September 1993). Revelations

I'd rather be a lamppost in Chicago than a millionaire in any other city.
~ William A. Hulbert

It's better to tell the truth and run, than to lie and get caught in the act.
~ (Col.) William C. Hunter, Brass Tacks (1910).

The right use of leisure is no doubt a harder problem than the right use of our working hours. The soul is dyed the color of its leisure thoughts. As a man thinketh in his heart so is he.
~ William Ralph (Dean) Inge

An act has no ethical quality whatever unless it be chosen out of several all equally possible.
~ William James, A Text-Book of Psychology (1892).

[E]ach of us literally chooses, by his ways of attending to things, what sort of a universe he shall appear to himself to inhabit.
~ William James, The Principles of Psychology (1890). Vol. 1. Chapter XI: Attention

The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.
~ William James

When once a decision is reached and execution is the order of the day, dismiss absolutely all responsibility and care about the outcome.
~ William James, Talks to Teachers on Psychology: and to Students on Some of Life's Ideals (March 1899). The Gospel of Relaxation

When you have to make a choice and don't make it, that is in itself a choice.
~ William James

Every man has his own ideal or personal convention in composition by which he selects his subject or into which he makes his subject fit.
~ William Lees ("W.L.") Judson, The Building of a Picture (1902).

We are all, right now, living the life we choose.
~ Peter McWilliams, DO IT! Let's Get Off Our Buts (1994). Part One: Why We're Not Living Our Dreams. We Live the Life We Choose

We can consciously end our life almost anytime we choose. This ability is an endowment -- like laughing and blushing -- given to no other animal. ... In any given moment, by not exercising the option of suicide, we are choosing to live.
~ Peter McWilliams

All I do is play music and golf -- which one do you want me to give up?
~ Willie Nelson

It is easier to do a great deal of mischief than to accomplish a little good.
~ William Nevins, in Practical Thoughts (1836). 18. Detached Thoughts

Death of one's own free choice, death at the proper time, with a clear head and with joyfulness, consummated in the midst of children and witnesses: so that an actual leave-taking is possible while he who is leaving is still there.
~ Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, Expeditions of an Untimely Man

What if a demon were to creep after you one night, in your loneliest loneness, and say, "This life which you live must be lived by you once again and innumerable times more; and every pain and joy and thought and sigh must come again to you, all in the same sequence. The eternal hourglass will again and again be turned -- and you with it, dust of the dust!" Would you throw yourself down and gnash your teeth and curse that demon? Or would you answer, "Never have I heard anything more divine?"
~ Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

I would rather be the man who bought the Brooklyn Bridge than the man who sold it.
~ Will Rogers

Every day the choice between good and evil is presented to us in simple ways.
~ William Edwyn Robert Sangster

Once we accept responsibility for choosing our lives, everything is different. We have the power. We decide. We are in control.
~ William C. ("Will") Schutz, Profound Simplicity (1979).

And why not death, rather than living torment?
~ William Shakespeare, The Two Gentlemen of Verona. Act III, scene i

I will not choose what many men desire,
Because I will not jump with common spirits
And rank me with the barbarous multitudes.
~ William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice. Act II, scene ix

O, hell! to choose love by another's eyes.
~ William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream. Act I, scene i

O, that way madness lies; let me shun that; No more of that.
~ William Shakespeare, King Lear. Act III, scene iv

[T]here's small choice in rotten apples.
~ William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew. Act I, scene i

To be, or not to be: that is the question;
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them?
~ William Shakespeare, Hamlet. Act III, scene i

Who chooseth me shall get as much as he deserves.
~ William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice. Act II, scene vii

Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood
Clean from my hand? No; this my hand will rather
The multitudinous seas incarnadine,
Making the green one red.
~ William Shakespeare, Macbeth. Act II, scene ii

Would you have me
False to my nature? Rather say I play
The man I am.
~ William Shakespeare, Coriolanus. Act III, scene ii

You must take your chance.
~ William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice. Act II, scene i

If forced to choose between the penitentiary and the White House for four years, ... I would say the penitentiary, thank you.
~ William Tecumseh Sherman, Letter to General Halleck (1 September 1864)

When you cannot make up your mind which of two evenly balanced courses of action you should take -- choose the bolder.
~ Sir William Joseph Slim

Whatever does constrain,
Turns Pleasure into Pain,
'Tis Choice alone can bless.
~ William Somervile, from Occasional Poems, Translations, Fables, Tales, Etc. (1727). Fable XI. Liberty and Love; or, the Two Sparrows

Be careful the environment you choose for it will shape you; be careful the friends you choose for you will become like them.
~ William (W.) Clement Stone

You always do what you want to do. This is true with every act. You may say that you had to do something, or that you were forced to, but actually, whatever you do, you do by choice. Only you have the power to choose for yourself.
~ William (W.) Clement Stone

Settle the question very early that your life shall be directed by principles and not by impulse.
~ William A. "Billy" Sunday, Show Thyself a Man (Sermon)

I would rather win honor than honors: I would rather have genius than wealth.
~ William Makepeace Thackeray, The Virginians: A Tale of the Last Century (1857-59). Chapter XXVI

Everyone who walks an independent path pays a price -- it's just human nature.
~ William Tiller, in The Spirit of Ma'at Magazine (2002). How the Power of Intention Alters Matter

We can choose to throw stones,
to stumble on them,
to climb over them,
or to build with them.
~ William Arthur Ward

A society that thinks the choice between ways of living is just a choice between equally eligible "lifestyles" turns universities into academic cafeterias offering junk food for the mind.
~ George F. Will

You can give in to the failure messages and be a bitter deadbeat full of excuses. Or you can choose to be happy and positive and excited about life.
~ A.L. ("Art") Williams, All You Can Do Is All You Can Do, But All You Can Do Is Enough! (1988). Chapter 2. Warning: Failure Messages Ahead

If I choose to bless another person, I will always end up feeling blessed.
~ Marianne Williamson

[T]he art of selection is the secret of leadership.
~ Charles McMoran Wilson, 1st Baron Moran, The Anatomy of Courage (1945)

The man who is perpetually hesitating which of two things he will do first, will do neither.
~ William Wirt, An Address Before the Peithessophian and Philoclean Societies of Rutgers College (20 July 1830).

[W]hile inspired
By choice, and conscious that the will is free,
Unswerving shall we move, as if impelled
By strict necessity, along the path
Of order and of good.
~ William Wordsworth, The Excursion (1814). Book IV: Despondency Corrected