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Our view of the world is truly shaped by what we decide to hear.

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
Truly
View
Views
Hear
World
Shaped
Decide

More quotes by William James

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One hearty laugh together will bring enemies into a closer communion of heart than hours spent on both sides in inward wrestling with the mental demon of uncharitable feeling.
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Religion must be considered vindicated in a certain way from the attacks of her critics.
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From a pragmatic point of view, the difference between living against a background of foreigness (an indifferent Universe) and one of intimacy (a benevolent Universe) means the difference between a general habit of wariness and one of trust.
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To consider hypotheses is surely always better than to dogmatize ins blaue hinein
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A winner's attitude: it may be difficult, but it's possible. A loser's attitude: It may be possible, but it's too difficult.
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In the last analysis, then, we believe that we all know and think about and talk about the same world because we believe our PERCEPTS are possessed by us in common
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Everybody should do at least two things each day that he hates to do, just for practice.
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As the brain-changes are continuous, so do all these consciousnesses melt into each other like dissolving views. Properly they are but one protracted consciousness, one unbroken stream.
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An unlearned carpenter of my acquaintance once said in my hearing: There is very little difference between one man and another but what little there is, is very important. This distinction seems to me to go to the root of the matter.
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We have nothing to do but to receive, resting absolutely upon the merit, power, and love of our Redeemer.
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Pretend what we may, the whole man within us is at work when we form our philosophical opinions.
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Philosophy lives in words, but truth and fact well up into our lives in ways that exceed verbal formulation.
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Belief creates the actual fact.
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The good we do today becomes the happiness of tomorrow.
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On pragmatistic principles, if the hypothesis of God works satisfactorily in the widest sense of the word, it is true.
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You must bring out of each word its practical cash-value, set it at work within the stream of your experience.
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Most people never run far enough on their first wind to find out they've got a second.
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The squalid cash interpretation put on the word success — is our national disease.
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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.
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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.
William James