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Man, biologically considered ... is simply the most formidable of all beasts of prey, and, indeed, the only one that preys systematically on its own kind.
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
Indeed
Preys
Simply
Biologically
Kind
Systematically
Men
Formidable
Beasts
Prey
Beast
Considered
More quotes by William James
From a pragmatic point of view, the difference between living against a background of foreigness (an indifferent Universe) and one of intimacy (a benevolent Universe) means the difference between a general habit of wariness and one of trust.
William James
Everyone knows that on any given day there are energies slumbering in him which the incitement's of that day do not call forth. Compared with what we ought to be, we are only half awake. The human individual usually lives far within his limits.
William James
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.
William James
A man with no philosophy in him is the most inauspicious and unprofitable of all possible social mates.
William James
If the grace of God miraculously operates, it probably operates through the subliminal door.
William James
But petitional prayer is only one department of prayer and if we take the word in the wider sense as meaning every kind of inward communion or conversation with the power recognized as divine, we can easily see that scientific criticism leaves it untouched. Prayer in this wide sense is the very soul and essence of religion.
William James
Man can alter his life by altering his thinking.
William James
Success or failure depends more upon attitude than upon capacity.
William James
The first lecture in psychology that I ever heard was the first I ever gave.
William James
Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.
William James
An idea will infect another with its own emotional interest when they have become both associated together into any sort of a mental total.
William James
Truth lives, in fact, for the most part on a credit system
William James
A great idea goes through three stages on its way to acceptance: 1) it is dismissed as nonsense, 2) it is acknowledged as true, but insignificant, 3) finally, it is seen to be important, but not really anything new.
William James
A new opinion counts as true just in proportion as it gratifies the individual's desire to assimilate the novel in his experience to his beliefs in stock
William James
You perceive now, my friends, what your general or abstract duty is as teachers. Although you have to generate in your pupils a large stock of ideas, any one of which may be inhibitory, yet you must also see to it that no habitual hesitancy or paralysis of the will ensues, and that the pupil still retains his power of vigorous action.
William James
Pessimism leads to weakness. Optimism leads to power.
William James
Keep the faculty of effort alive in you by a little gratuitous exercise every day.
William James
It is as important to cultivate your silence power as your word power.
William James
If you want to change your life, do it flamboyantly and start immediately.
William James
The bottom of being is left logically opaque to us, a datum in the strict sense of the word, something we simply come upon and find, and about which (if we wish to act) we should pause and wonder as little as possible. In this confession lies the lasting truth of empiricism.
William James
