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The great use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it. This life is worth living, we can say, since it is what we make it. Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the fact.

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
Believe
Help
Make
Fact
Life
Living
Outlast
Use
Spend
Helping
Worth
Facts
Create
Great
Since
Something
Belief

More quotes by William James

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My first act of free will shall be to believe in free will.
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The greatest weapon we have to combat stress is the ability to choose our thoughts.
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No matter how full a reservoir of maxims one may possess, and no matter how good one's sentiments may be, if one has not taken advantage of every concrete opportunity to act, one's character may remain entirely unaffected for the better.
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Habit is the great flywheel of society.
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Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task.
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The minute a man ceases to grow, no matter what his years, that minute he begins to be old.
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Our ideas must agree with realities, be such realities concrete or abstract
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Effort is a measure of a Man.
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A chain is no stronger than its weakest link, and life is after all a chain.
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The states of consciousness are all that psychology needs to do her work with. Metaphysics or theology may prove the Soul to exist but for psychology the hypothesis of such a substantial principle of unity is superfluous.
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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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To change one's life: a. Start immediately b. B. Do it flamboyantly c. No exceptions Never suffer an exception to occur till the new habit is securely rooted.
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Humanism . . . is not a single hypothesis or theorem, and it dwells on no new facts. It is rather a slow shifting in the philosophic perspective, making things appear as from a new centre of interest or point of sight.
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The mind, in short, works on the data it receives very much as the sculptor works on his block of stone.
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The perfect stillness of the night was thrilled by a more solemn silence. The darkness held a presence that was all the more felt because it was not seen. I could not any more have doubted that HE was there than that I was. Indeed, I felt myself to be, if possible, the less real of the two.
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But facts are facts, and if we only get enough of them theyare sure to combine.
William James
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Truth happens to an idea
William James
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Any object not interesting in itself may become interesting through becoming associated with an object in which an interest already exists.
William James
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I believe there is no source of deception in the investigation of nature which can compare with a fixed belief that certain kinds of phenomena are IMPOSSIBLE.
William James
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Faith is one of the forces by which men live, and the total absence of it means collapse
William James