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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
Shaped
Decide
Truly
View
Views
Hear
World

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Serious development of the personality begins at the closet door.
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What a teacher needs to know about psychology might almost be written on the palm of one's hand.
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What every genuine philosopher (every genuine man, in fact) craves most is praise although the philosophers generally call it recognition!
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'Facts' are the bounds of human knowledge, set for it, not by it.
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We may be in the Universe as dogs and cats are in our libraries, seeing the books and hearing the conversation, but having no inkling of the meaning of it all.
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To give up pretensions is as blessed a relief as to get them ratified.
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The mind is made up by what it feeds upon.
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Lay plans as if we were to be immortal.
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Is life worth living? It all depends on the liver.
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We can change our circumstances by a mere change of our attitude.
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Why may we not be in the universe, as our dogs and cats are in our drawingrooms and libraries?
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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.
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Modern man . . . has not ceased to be credulous . . . the need to believe haunts him.
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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 emotions aren't always immediately subject to reason, but they are always immediately subject to action.
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General scepticism is the live mental attitude of refusing to conclude. It is a permanent torpor of the will, renewing itself in detail towards each successive thesis that offers, and you can no more kill it off by logic than you can kill off obstinacy or practical joking.
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If you want a confidence, act as if you already have it. Try the as if technique.
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There are two lives, the natural and the spiritual, and we must lose the one before we can participate in the other.
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... the intellect, everywhere invasive, shows everywhere its shallowing effect.
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In this real world of sweat and dirt, it seems to me that when a view of things is 'noble,' that ought to count as presumption against its truth, and as a philosophic disqualification. The prince of darkness may be a gentleman, as we are told he is, but whatever the God of earth and heaven is, he can surely be no gentleman.
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