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Genius is the capacity for seeing relationships where lesser men see none.

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
Genius
Seeing
Men
Lesser
Relationships
None
Capacity

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Most men's friendships are too inarticulate.
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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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To know psychology, therefore, is absolutely no guarantee that we shall be good teacher.
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A winner's attitude: it may be difficult, but it's possible. A loser's attitude: It may be possible, but it's too difficult.
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No living person is sunk so low as not to be imitated by somebody.
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How pleasant is the day when we give up striving to be young-or slender.
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We do not sing because we are happy, we are happy because we sing.
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Let everything you do be done as if it makes a difference.
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Do every day or two something for no other reason than its difficulty.
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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.
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An act has no ethical quality whatever unless it be chosen out of several all equally possible.
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Intelligence is a fixed goal with variable means of achieving it.
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Habit is thus the enormous fly-wheel of society, its most precious conservative agent. It alone is what keeps us all within the bounds of ordinance, and saves the children of fortune from the envious uprisings of the poor. It alone prevents the hardest and most repulsive walks of life from being deserted by those brought up to tread therein.
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Volition . . . takes place only when there are a number of conflicting systems of ideas, and depends on our having a complex field of consciousness.
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A paradise of inward tranquility seems to be faith's usual result.
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Conversion is in its essence a normal adolescent phenomenon, incidental to the passage from the child's small universe to the wider intellectual and spiritual life of maturity.
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We hear in these days of scientific enlightenment a great deal of discussion about the efficacy of Prayer. Many reasons are given why we should not pray. Others give reasons why we should pray. Very little is said of the reason we do pray. The reason is simple: We pray because we cannot help praying.
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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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Keep the faculty of effort alive in you by a little gratuitous exercise every day.
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...By far the most usual way of handling phenomena so novel that they would make for a serious rearrangement of our preconceptions is to ignore them altogether, or to abuse those who bear witness for them.
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