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Life shall be built in doing and suffering and creating.

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
Built
Creating
Shall
Suffering
Life

More quotes by William James

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Habit is the enormous flywheel of society, its most precious conservative agent. There is no more miserable human being than one in whom nothing is habitual but indecision. Full half the time of such a man goes to the deciding, or regretting, of matters which ought to be so ingrained in him as practically not to exist for his consciousness at all.
William James
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The question of free will is insoluble on strictly psychological grounds.
William James
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Between what a man calls me and what he simply calls mine the line is difficult to draw. We feel and act about certain things that are ours very much as we feel and act about ourselves.
William James
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Truth in our ideas means their power to work.
William James
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The difference between objective and subjective extension is one of relation to a context solely.
William James
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A chain is no stronger than its weakest link, and life is after all a chain.
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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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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Human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind.
William James
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Choose a self and stand by it.
William James
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Events are influenced by our very great desires.
William James
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Men habitually use only a small part of the power which they actually possess.
William James
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The true'to put it very briefly, is only the expedient in the way of our thinking, just as 'the right' is only the expedient in the way of our behaving.
William James
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You must bring out of each word its practical cash-value, set it at work within the stream of your experience.
William James
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With no attempt there can be no failure with no failure no humiliation.
William James
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The love of life, at any and every level of development, is the religious impulse.
William James
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We are not only gregarious animals, liking to be in sight of our fellows, but we have an innate propensity to get ourselves noticed, and noticed favorably, by our kind.
William James
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The general law is that no mental modification ever occurs which is not accompanied or followed by a bodily change.
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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When once a decision is reached and execution is the order of the day, dismiss absolutely all responsibility and care about the outcome.
William James