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Need and struggle are what excite and inspire us our hour of triumph is what brings the void. Not the Jews of the captivity, but those of the days of Solomon 's glory are those from whom the pessimistic utterances in our Bible come.

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
Hours
Triumph
Captivity
Come
Brings
Solomon
Need
Bible
Excite
Needs
Hour
Utterance
Inspire
Pessimistic
Glory
Void
Struggle
Jews
Days
Jew
Utterances

More quotes by William James

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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.
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Our belief at the beginning of a doubtful undertaking is the one thing that assures the successful outcome of any venture.
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Plasticity, then, in the wide sense of the word, means the possession of a structure weak enough to yield to an influence, but strong enough not to yield all at once. Each relatively stable phase of equilibrium in such a structure is marked by what we may call a new set of habits.
William James
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In my individual heart I fully believe my faith is as robust as yours. The trouble with your robust and full bodied faiths, however, is, that they begin to cut each others throats too soon, and for getting on in the world and establishing a modus vivendi these pestilential refinements and reasonablenesses and moderations have to creep in.
William James
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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.
William James
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Asceticism may be a mere expression of organic hardihood, disgusted with too much ease.
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Human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind.
William James
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Whenever two people meet, there are really six people present. There is each man as he sees himself, each man as the other person sees him, and each man as he really is.
William James
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If merely 'feeling good' could decide, drunkenness would be the supremely valid human experience.
William James
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The question of free will is insoluble on strictly psychological grounds.
William James
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An act has no ethical quality whatever unless it be chosen out of several all equally possible.
William James
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Serious development of the personality begins at the closet door.
William James
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The old question of whether there is design is idle. The real question is what is the world, whether or not it have a designer--and that can be revealed only by the study of all nature's particulars.
William James
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So to feel brave, act as if we were brave, use all our will to that end...and a courage-fit will very likely replace the fit of fear.
William James
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The deepest longing in the human breast is the desire for appreciation.
William James
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I take it that no man is educated who has never dallied with the thought of suicide.
William James
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Habit simplifies our movements, makes them accurate, and diminishes fatigue.
William James
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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
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What every genuine philosopher (every genuine man, in fact) craves most is praise although the philosophers generally call it recognition!
William James
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The minute a man ceases to grow, no matter what his years, that minute he begins to be old.
William James