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...By far the most usual way of handling phenomena so novel that they would make for a serious rearrangement of our preconceptions is to ignore them altogether, or to abuse those who bear witness for them.

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
Bear
Preconceptions
Bears
Handling
Novel
Phenomena
Serious
Altogether
Science
Ignore
Way
Usual
Make
Witness
Would
Abuse
Rearrangement

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The baby, assailed by eyes, ears, nose, skin, and entrails at once, feels it all as one great blooming, buzzing confusion.
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Intelligence is a fixed goal with variable means of achieving it.
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The first thing that intellect does with an object is to class it with something else.
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Faith is synonymous with working hypothesis.
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Impulse without reason is enough, and reason without impulse is a poor makeshift.
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The squalid cash interpretation put on the word success — is our national disease.
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Belief is desecrated when given to unproved and unquestioned statements for the solace and private pleasure of the believer . . . It is wrong always, everywhere, and for every one, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence.
William James
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In its broadest term, religion says that there is an unseen order, and that our supreme good lies in rightful relations to it.
William James
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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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If any one phrase could gather its (religion's) universal message, that phrase would be, - All is not vanity in this Universe, whatever the appearances may suggest.
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So it is with children who learn to read fluently and well: They begin to take flight into whole new worlds as effortlessly as young birds take to the sky.
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In any project the important factor is your belief. Without belief, there can be no successful outcome.
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[Pragmatism's] only test of probable truth is what works best in the way of leading us, what fits every part of life best and combines with the collectivity of experience's demands, nothing being omitted.
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All the daily routine of life, our dressing and undressing, the coming and going from our work or carrying through of its various operations, is utterly without mental reference to pleasure and pain, except under rarely realized conditions.
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There can be no existence of evil as a force to the healthy-minded individual.
William James
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In the matter of belief, we are all extreme conservatives.
William James
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Objective evidence and certitude are doubtless very fine ideals to play with, but where on this moonlit and dream-visited planet are they found?
William James
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The community stagnates without the impulse of the individual. The impulse dies away without the sympathy of the community.
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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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Only necessity understood, and bondage to the highest is identical with true freedom.
William James