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An idea, to be suggestive, must come to the individual with the force of revelation.

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
Ideas
Revelation
Come
Revelations
Must
Philosophical
Imagination
Idea
Force
Individual
Inspirational
Suggestive

More quotes by William James

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Truth happens to an idea
William James
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A Beethoven string-quartet is truly, as some one has said, a scraping of horses' tails on cats' bowels, and may be exhaustively described in such terms but the application of this description in no way precludes the simultaneous applicability of an entirely different description.
William James
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The only function that one experience can perform is to lead into another experience and the only fulfillment we can speak of isthe reaching of a certain experienced end. When one experience leads to (or can lead to) the same end as another, they agree in function.
William James
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Habit is thus the enormous fly-wheel of society, its most precious conservative agent. It alone is what keeps us all within the bounds of ordinance, and saves the children of fortune from the envious uprisings of the poor. It alone prevents the hardest and most repulsive walks of life from being deserted by those brought up to tread therein.
William James
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Every claim creates an obligation.
William James
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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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With no attempt there can be no failure with no failure no humiliation.
William James
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The greatest weapon we have to combat stress is the ability to choose our thoughts.
William James
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The true'to put it very briefly, is only the expedient in the way of our thinking, just as 'the right' is only the expedient in the way of our behaving.
William James
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We have nothing to do but to receive, resting absolutely upon the merit, power, and love of our Redeemer.
William James
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Circumstance does not make me, it reveals me.
William James
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Considering the inner fitness of things, one would rather think that the very first act of a will endowed with freedom should be to sustain the belief in the freedom itself.
William James
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The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook.
William James
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Everyone knows that on any given day there are energies slumbering in him which the incitement's of that day do not call forth. Compared with what we ought to be, we are only half awake. The human individual usually lives far within his limits.
William James
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A paradise of inward tranquility seems to be faith's usual result.
William James
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Most unhappiness is caused because people listen to themselves... instead of talking to themselves.
William James
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If you can change your mind, you can change your life.
William James
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Human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind.
William James
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Truth is something that happens to an idea.
William James
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Genius... means little more than the faculty of perceiving in an unhabitual way.
William James