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Faith means belief in something concerning which doubt is theoretically possible.

William James

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William James
Age: 68 †
Born: 1842
Born: January 11
Died: 1910
Died: August 26
Philosopher
Physician
Psychologist
University Teacher
W. James
Means
Theoretically
Mean
Faithfulness
Something
Concerning
Believe
Philosophical
Doubt
Possible
Belief
Faith

More quotes by William James

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The belief in free-will is not in the least incompatible with the belief in Providence, provided you do not restrict the Providence to fulminating nothing but fatal decrees.
William James
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Belief is desecrated when given to unproved and unquestioned statements for the solace and private pleasure of the believer . . . It is wrong always, everywhere, and for every one, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence.
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I have often thought the best way to define a man's character would be to seek out the particular mental or moral attitude in which, when it comes upon him, he felt himself most deeply and intensely active and alive. At such moments there is a voice inside which speaks and says: This is the real me!.
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The discovery of the power of our thoughts will prove to be the most important discovery of our time
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If you want to change your life, do it flamboyantly and start immediately.
William James
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If evolution and the survival of the fittest be true at all, the destruction of prey and of human rivals must have been among the most important. . . . It is just because human bloodthirstiness is such a primitive part of us that it is so hard to eradicate, especially when a fight or a hunt is promised as part of the fun.
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We can change our circumstances by a mere change of our attitude.
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The God of many men is little more than their court of appeal against the damnatory judgment passed on their failures by the opinion of the world.
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In order to disprove the assertion that all crows are black, one white crow is sufficient.
William James
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I wished by treating Psychology like a natural science, to help her become one.
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Most unhappiness is caused because people listen to themselves... instead of talking to themselves.
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Men's activities are occupied into ways -- in grappling with external circumstances and in striving to set things at one in their own topsy-turvy mind.
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The question of free will is insoluble on strictly psychological grounds.
William James
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Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the fact.
William James
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Far from being antecedent principles that animate the process, law, language, truth are but abstract names for its results.
William James
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We must be careful not to confuse data with the abstractions we use to analyse them.
William James
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The man who knows governments most completely is he who troubles himself least about a definition which shall give their essence. Enjoying an intimate acquaintance with all their particularities in turn, he would naturally regard an abstract conception in which these were unified as a thing more misleading than enlightening.
William James
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The strenuous life tastes better
William James
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We are spinning our own fates, good or evil, never to be undone.
William James
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For morality life is a war, and the service of the highest is a sort of cosmic patriotism which also calls for volunteers.
William James