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Lives based on having are less free than lives based either on doing or being.

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
Lives
Inspirational
Life
Based
Either
Free
Less

More quotes by William James

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How can the moribund old man reason back to himself the romance, the mystery, the imminence of great things with which our old earth tingled for him in the days when he was young and well?
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We want all our friends to tell us our bad qualities it is only the particular ass that does so whom we can't tolerate.
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We need only in cold blood to act as if the thing in question were real and it will infallibly end by growing into such a connection with our life that it will become real.
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You can alter your life by altering the state of your mind.
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Man lives in only one small room of the enormous house of his consciousness.
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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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The teachers of this country, one may say, have its future in their hands.
William James
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Our normal waking consciousness, rational consciousness as we call it, is but one special type of consciousness, whilst all about it, parted from it by the filmiest of screens, there lie potential forms of consciousness entirely different.
William James
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Metaphysics means nothing but an unusually obstinate effort to think clearly.
William James
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There is nothing so absurd that it cannot be believed as truth if repeated often enough.
William James
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Organization and method mean much, but contagious human characters mean more in a university.
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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What a teacher needs to know about psychology might almost be written on the palm of one's hand.
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When you have to make a choice and don't make it, that is in itself a choice.
William James
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If you give appreciation to people, you win their goodwill.
William James
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... if we take the universe of 'fitting,' countless coats 'fit' backs, and countless boots 'fit' feet, on which they are not practically fitted countless stones 'fit' gaps in walls into which no one seeks to fit them actually. In the same way countless opinions 'fit' realities, and countless truths are valid, tho no thinker ever thinks them.
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The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated.
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.
William James
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An enormous mass of experience, both of homeopathic doctors and their patients, is invoked in favor of the efficacy of these remedies and doses.
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