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The world is all the richer for having a devil in it, so long as we keep our foot upon his neck.

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
Upon
Keep
Long
Richer
World
Neck
Necks
Foot
Devil
Feet

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Lay plans as if we were to be immortal.
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Formula to live your dream: 1. Be bold. 2. Begin now, 3. No exceptions.
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You make a great, very great mistake, if you think that psychology, being the science of the mind's laws, is something from which you can deduce definite programmes and schemes and methods of instruction for immediate schoolroom use.
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No more fiendish punishment could be devised, were such a thing physically possible, than that one should be turned loose in society and remain absolutely unnoticed.
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Science herself consults her heart when she lays it down that the infinite ascertainment of fact and correction of false belief are the supreme goods for man.
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Man's chief difference from the brutes lies in the exuberant excess of his subjective propensities. Prune his extravagance, sober him, and you undo him.
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A man has as many social selves as there are individuals who recognize him.
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There can be no difference anywhere that does not make a difference somewhere.
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To know psychology, therefore, is absolutely no guarantee that we shall be good teacher.
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To study the abnormal is the best way of understanding the normal.
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If any organism fails to fulfill its potentialities, it becomes sick.
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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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Touch is the alpha and omega of affection.
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Agisci come se quel che fai, facesse la differenza. La fa!
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Faith is one of the forces by which men live, and the total absence of it means collapse
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All that we need explicitly to note is that, the more the passive attention is relied on, by keeping the material interesting and the less the kind of attention requiring effort is appealed to the more smoothly and pleasantly the classroom work goes on.
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Compared with what we ought to be, we are only half awake. Our fires are damped, our drafts are checked. We are making use of only a small part of our possible mental and physical resources.
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Men are now proud of belonging to a conquering nation, and without a murmur they lay down their persons and their wealth, if by so doing they may fend off subjection.
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If you can change your mind, you can change your life.
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Better risk loss of truth than chance of error--that is your faith-vetoer's exact position. He is actively playing his stake as much as the believer is he is backing the field against the religious hypothesis, just as the believer is backing the religious hypothesis against the field.
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