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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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William James
Age: 68 †
Born: 1842
Born: January 11
Died: 1910
Died: August 26
Philosopher
Physician
Psychologist
University Teacher
W. James
Seems
Acquaintance
Littles
Root
Little
Distinction
Matter
Hearing
Important
Roots
Men
Difference
Differences
Unlearned
Another
Carpenter

More quotes by William James

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The only function that one experience can perform is to lead into another experience and the only fulfillment we can speak of isthe reaching of a certain experienced end. When one experience leads to (or can lead to) the same end as another, they agree in function.
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Materialism means simply the denial that the moral order is eternal, and the cutting off of ultimate hopes spiritualism means theaffirmation of an eternal moral order and the letting loose of hope.
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Of all the beautiful truths pertaining to the soul None is more gladdening or fruitful than to know You can regenerate and make yourself what you will.
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Our intelligence cannot wall itself up alive, like a pupa in a chrysalis. It must at any cost keep on speaking terms with the universe that engendered it.
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No living person is sunk so low as not to be imitated by somebody.
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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The war against war is going to be no holiday excursion or camping party.
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To know one thing thoroughly would be to know the universe.
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We with our lives are like islands in the sea... The islands also hang together through the ocean's bottom.
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It is only in the lonely emergencies of life that our creed is tested: then routine maxims fail, and we fall back on our gods.
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When you have to make a choice and don't make it, that is in itself a choice.
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The ideas gained by men before they are twenty-five are practically the only ideas they shall have in their lives.
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A paradise of inward tranquility seems to be faith's usual result.
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Why should we think upon things that are lovely? Because thinking determines life. It is a common habit to blame life upon the environment. Environment modifies life but does not govern life. The soul is stronger than its surroundings.
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The love of life, at any and every level of development, is the religious impulse.
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Once you accept an idea, it's an idea whose time has come.
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No matter how full a reservoir of maxims one may possess, and no matter how good one's sentiments may be, if one has not taken advantage of every concrete opportunity to act, one's character may remain entirely unaffected for the better.
William James
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Most unhappiness is caused because people listen to themselves... instead of talking to themselves.
William James
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a man does not cry because he is sad, he is sad because he cries
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Philosophy is an unusually stubborn attempt to think clearly.
William James