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The God of many men is little more than their court of appeal against the damnatory judgment passed on their failures by the opinion of the world.

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
Men
Judgment
World
Philosophy
Opinion
History
Failures
Art
Appeal
Littles
Appeals
Little
Passed
Many
Court

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In business for yourself, not by yourself.
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No decision is, in itself, a decision.
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What a teacher needs to know about psychology might almost be written on the palm of one's hand.
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The work that leads to a doctor's degree is a constant temptation to sacrifice one's growth as a man to one's growth as a specialist.
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Acceptance of what has happened is the first step to overcoming the consequences of any misfortune.
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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
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Most people live, whether physically, intellectually or morally, in a very restricted circle of their potential being. They make very small use of their possible consciousness, and of their soul's resources in general, much like a man who, out of his whole bodily organism, should get into a habit of using and moving only his little finger.
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Fear of life in one form or another is the great thing to exorcise.
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In this real world of sweat and dirt, it seems to me that when a view of things is 'noble,' that ought to count as presumption against its truth, and as a philosophic disqualification. The prince of darkness may be a gentleman, as we are told he is, but whatever the God of earth and heaven is, he can surely be no gentleman.
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At bottom, the whole concern of religion is with the manner of our acceptance of the universe.
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'Facts' are the bounds of human knowledge, set for it, not by it.
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Just for today I will exercise my soul in three ways: I will do somebody a good turn and not get found out. I will do at least two things I don't want to do
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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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You can alter your life by altering the state of your mind.
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That which is most personal, is most interesting.
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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.
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[Religion is] the attempt to be in harmony with an unseen order of things.
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We are mere bundles of habits.
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Mental fire is what won't burn real sticks mental water is what won't necessarily (though of course it may) put out even a mentalfire.
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Habit is a second nature, or rather, it is 'ten times nature'.
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