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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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William James
Age: 68 †
Born: 1842
Born: January 11
Died: 1910
Died: August 26
Philosopher
Physician
Psychologist
University Teacher
W. James
Believed
Belief
Often
Science
Cannot
Truth
Nothing
Repeated
Enough
Absurd

More quotes by William James

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A good hypothesis in science must have other properties than those of the phenomenon it is immediately invoked to explain, otherwise it is not prolific enough.
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Our view of the world is truly shaped by what we decide to hear.
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If you give appreciation to people, you win their goodwill. But more important than that, practicing this philosophy has made a different person of me.
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All of our life is but a mass of small habits - practical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual - that bear us irresistibly toward our destiny.
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A man has as many social selves as there are individuals who recognize him.
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Give your dreams all you've got, and you'll be amazed at the energy that comes out of you.
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The strenuous life tastes better
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The perfection of rottenness.
William James
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Man alone of all the creatures of earth can change his own pattern. Man alone is the architect of his own destiny.
William James
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The drunken consciousness is one bit of the mystic consciousness, and our total opinion of it must find its place in our opinion of that larger whole.
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
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If merely 'feeling good' could decide, drunkenness would be the supremely valid human experience.
William James
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Effort is the one strictly undervalued and original contribution we make to this world.
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There is no more miserable human being than one in whom nothing is habitual but indecision.
William James
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Man is essentially the imitative animal. His whole educabilityand in fact the whole history of civilization depend on this trait, which his strong tendencies to rivalry, jealousy, and acquisitiveness reinforce.
William James
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My first act of free will shall be to believe in free will.
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.
William James
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We must make automatic and habitual, as early as possible, as many useful actions as we can. . . . The more of the details of our daily life we can hand over to the effortless custody of automatism, the more our higher powers of mind will be set free for their own proper work.
William James
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There is but one unconditional commandment ... to bring about the very largest total universe of good which we can see.
William James
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Man lives by habits indeed, but what he lives for is thrill and excitements. ... From time immemorial war has been ... the supremely thrilling excitement.
William James