Quote

The war-function has grasped us so far but the constructive interests may some day seem no less imperative, and impose on the individual a hardly lighter burden.

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
Individual
Constructive
War
Hardly
Seems
Interests
Grasped
May
Burden
Lighters
Function
Lighter
Seem
Imperative
Interest
Imperatives
Less
Impose

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Beyond the very extreme of fatigue and distress, we may find amounts of ease and power we never dreamed ourselves to own sources of strength never taxed at all because we never push through the obstruction
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Success or failure depends more upon attitude than upon capacity successful men act as though they have accomplished or are enjoying something. Soon it becomes a reality. Act, look, feel successful, conduct yourself accordingly, and you will be amazed at the positive results.
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Religion is a monumental chapter in the history of human egotism.
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Only necessity understood, and bondage to the highest is identical with true freedom.
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Our faith is faith in someone else's faith, and in the greatest matters this is most the case.
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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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We must not just patch and tinker with life. We must keep renewing it. Embrace novelty and uniqueness.
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Mental fire is what won't burn real sticks mental water is what won't necessarily (though of course it may) put out even a mentalfire.
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'What would be better for us to believe!' This sounds very like a definition of truth
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We hear the words we have spoken, feel our own blow as we give it, or read in the bystander's eyes the success or failure of our conduct.
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Science as such assuredly has no authority, for she can only say what is, not what is not.
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True is the name for whatever idea starts the verification process, useful is the name for its completed function in experience
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... no bell in us tolls to let us know for certain when truth is in our grasp.
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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.
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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.
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In the matter of belief, we are all extreme conservatives.
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Psychology ought certainly to give the teacher radical help.
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Most people live, whether physically, intellectually or morally, in a very restricted circle of their potential being.
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Modern man . . . has not ceased to be credulous . . . the need to believe haunts him.
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All natural happiness thus seems infected with a contradiction. The breath of the sepulchre surrounds it.
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