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Each of us is in fact what he is almost exclusively by virtue of his imitative-ness.

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
Almost
Fact
Facts
Imitative
Ness
Exclusively
Virtue

More quotes by William James

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In modern eyes, precious though wars may be they must not be waged solely for the sake of the ideal harvest. Only when forced upon one, is a war now thought permissible.
William James
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Effort is the one strictly undervalued and original contribution we make to this world.
William James
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If evolution and the survival of the fittest be true at all, the destruction of prey and of human rivals must have been among the most important. . . . It is just because human bloodthirstiness is such a primitive part of us that it is so hard to eradicate, especially when a fight or a hunt is promised as part of the fun.
William James
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The love of life, at any and every level of development, is the religious impulse.
William James
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Truth happens to an idea
William James
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... religious experience, as we have studied it, cannot be cited as unequivocally supporting the infinitist belief. The only thingthat it unequivocally testifies to is that we can experience union with something larger than ourselves and in that union find our greatest peace.
William James
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There is but one unconditional commandment ... to bring about the very largest total universe of good which we can see.
William James
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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.
William James
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To know one thing thoroughly would be to know the universe.
William James
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Time itself comes in drops.
William James
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We are doomed to cling to a life even while we find it unendurable.
William James
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An impression which simply flows in at the pupil's eyes or ears and in no way modifies his active life, is an impression gone to waste. It is physiologically incomplete... Its motor consequences are what clinch it.
William James
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Men are now proud of belonging to a conquering nation, and without a murmur they lay down their persons and their wealth, if by so doing they may fend off subjection.
William James
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It is as if there were in the human consciousness a sense of reality, a feeling of objective presence, a perception of what we may call something there, more deep and more general than any of the special and particular senses by which the current psychology supposes existent realities to be originally revealed.
William James
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There is a stream, a succession of states, or waves, or fields (or whatever you please to call them), of knowledge, of feeling, of desire, of deliberation, etc., that constantly pass and repass, and that constitute our inner life.
William James
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It is only by risking our persons from one hour to another that we live at all. And often enough our faith beforehand in an uncertified result is the only thing that makes the result come true.
William James
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We with our lives are like islands in the sea... The islands also hang together through the ocean's bottom.
William James
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Equality is attainable as long as you are part of the majority.
William James
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If you want to change your life, do it flamboyantly and start immediately.
William James
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Footnotes -- little dogs yapping at the heels of the text
William James