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We do not sing because we are happy, we are happy because we sing.

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
Sing
Happiness
Happy
Inspirational

More quotes by William James

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To some of us the thought of God is like a sort of quiet music playing in the background of the mind.
William James
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So far war has been the only force that can discipline a whole community, and until an equivalent discipline is organized, I believe that war must have its way.
William James
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The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook.
William James
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The aim of science is always to reduce complexity to simplicity.
William James
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I don't see how an epigram, being a bolt from the blue, with no introduction or cue, ever gets itself writ.
William James
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An unlearned carpenter of my acquaintance once said in my hearing: There is very little difference between one man and another but what little there is, is very important. This distinction seems to me to go to the root of the matter.
William James
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The good we do today becomes the happiness of tomorrow.
William James
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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.
William James
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What excites and interests the looker-on at life, what the romances and the statues celebrate, and the grim civic monuments remind us of, is the everlasting battle of the powers of light with those of darkness with heroism reduced to its bare chance, yet ever and anon snatching victory from the jaws of death.
William James
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What a magnificent land and race is this Britain! Everything about them is of better quality than the corresponding thing in the U.S.... Yet I believe (or suspect) that ours is eventually the bigger destiny, if we can only succeed in living up to it.
William James
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To change ones life: Start immediately. Do it flamboyantly.
William James
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Could the young but realize how soon they will become mere walking bundles of habits, they would give more heed to their conduct while in the plastic state.
William James
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Religion must be considered vindicated in a certain way from the attacks of her critics.
William James
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Thoughts become perception, perception becomes reality. Alter your thoughts, alter your reality.
William James
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Evil is a disease and worry over disease is itself an additional form of disease, which only adds to the original complaint.
William James
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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.
William James
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Truth, as any dictionary will tell you, is a property of certain of our ideas. It means their agreement, as falsity means their disagreement, with reality.
William James
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When you have broken the reality into concepts you never can reconstruct it in its wholeness.
William James
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The world is all the richer for having a devil in it, so long as we keep our foot upon his neck.
William James
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Seek out that particular mental attribute which makes you feel most deeply and vitally alive.
William James