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The aim of science is always to reduce complexity to simplicity.

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
Reduce
Complexity
Aim
Simplicity
Science
Always

More quotes by William James

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On pragmatistic principles, if the hypothesis of God works satisfactorily in the widest sense of the word, it is true.
William James
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We are all ready to be savage in some cause. The difference between a good man and a bad one is the choice of the cause.
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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
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Formula to live your dream: 1. Be bold. 2. Begin now, 3. No exceptions.
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The mind, in short, works on the data it receives very much as a sculptor works on his block of stone. In a sense the statue stoodthere from eternity. But there were a thousand different ones beside it, and the sculptor alone is to thank for having extricated this one from the rest.
William James
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The mind, in short, works on the data it receives very much as the sculptor works on his block of stone.
William James
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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.
William James
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I myself believe that the evidence for God lies primarily in inner personal experiences.
William James
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The deepest human need is the need to be appreciated.
William James
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Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task.
William James
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Action seems to follow feeling, but really action and feeling go together and by regulating the action, which is under the more direct control of the will, we can indirectly regulate the feeling.
William James
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It seems the natural thing for us to listen whilst the Europeans talk.
William James
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Nature in her unfathomable designs had mixed us of clay and flame, of brain and mind, that the two things hang indubitably together and determine each other's being but how or why, no mortal may ever know.
William James
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Could the young but realize how soon they will become mere walking bundles of habits, they would give more heed to their conduct while in the plastic state.
William James
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My first act of free will shall be to believe in free will.
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You can alter your life by altering the state of your mind.
William James
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The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes.
William James
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... the intellect, everywhere invasive, shows everywhere its shallowing effect.
William James
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Out of time we cut 'days' and 'nights', 'summers' and 'winters.' We say what, each part of the sensible continuum is, and all these abstract whats are concepts. The intelletual life of man consists almost wholly in his substitution of a conceptual order for the persceptual order in which his experience originally comes.
William James
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In any project the important factor is your belief. Without belief, there can be no successful outcome.
William James