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Do something everyday for no other reason than you would rather not do it, so that when the hour of dire need draws nigh, it may find you not unnerved and untrained to stand the test.

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
Life
Action
Tests
May
Draws
Reason
Hour
Find
Everyday
Unnerved
Need
Stand
Untrained
Needs
Hours
Nigh
Something
Rather
Dire
Would
Success
Test

More quotes by William James

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I am only a philosopher, and there is only one thing that a philosopher can be relied on to do, and that is, to contradict other philosophers.
William James
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'What would be better for us to believe!' This sounds very like a definition of truth
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It makes a tremendous emotional and practical difference to one whether one accepts the universe in the drab discolored way of stoic resignation to necessity, or with the passionate happiness of Christian saints.
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The mind of your own enemy, the pupil, is working away from you, as keenly and eagerly as is the mind of the commander on the other side from the scientific general. Just what the respective enemies want and think, and what they know or do not know, are as hard things for the teachers as for the general to find out.
William James
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Materialism means simply the denial that the moral order is eternal, and the cutting off of ultimate hopes spiritualism means theaffirmation of an eternal moral order and the letting loose of hope.
William James
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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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Marvelous as may be the power of my dog to understand my moods, deathless as his affection and fidelity, his mental state is as unsolved a mystery to me as it was to my remotest ancestor.
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We must not just patch and tinker with life. We must keep renewing it. Embrace novelty and uniqueness.
William James
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There can be no difference anywhere that does not make a difference somewhere.
William James
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Truth is something that happens to an idea.
William James
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Truth is what will be steadily borne out by subsequent experience
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Formula to live your dream: 1. Be bold. 2. Begin now, 3. No exceptions.
William James
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The exercise of prayer, in those who habitually exert it, must be regarded by us doctors as the most adequate and normal of all the pacifiers of the mind and calmers of the nerves.
William James
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I know that you, ladies and gentlemen, have a philosophy, each and all of you, and that the most interesting and important thing about you is the way in which it determines the perspective in your several worlds.
William James
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Once a decision is reached, stop worrying and start working.
William James
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Tell him to live by yes and no - yes to everything good, no to everything bad.
William James
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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.
William James
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I myself believe that the evidence for God lies primarily in inner personal experiences.
William James
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Good-humor is a philosophic state of mind it seems to say to Nature that we take her no more seriously than she takes us. I maintain that one should always talk of philosophy with a smile.
William James
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Life feels like a real fight - as if there were something really wild in the universe which we, with all our idealities and faithfulnesses, are needed to redeem.
William James