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Man's chief difference from the brutes lies in the exuberant excess of his subjective propensities. Prune his extravagance, sober him, and you undo him.

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
Differences
Subjective
Prune
Lying
Sober
Propensities
Men
Excess
Exuberant
Chief
Prunes
Chiefs
Undo
Waste
Extravagance
Lies
Propensity
Difference
Brutes

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The true'to put it very briefly, is only the expedient in the way of our thinking, just as 'the right' is only the expedient in the way of our behaving.
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We can act as if there were a God feel as if we were free consider Nature as if she were full of special designs lay plans as if we were to be immortal and we find then that these words do make a genuine difference in our moral life.
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If theological ideas prove to have a value for concrete life, they will be true, for pragmatism, in the sense of being good for so much. How much more they are true, will depend entirely on their relations to the other truths that also have to be acknowledged.
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We and God have business with each other, and in opening ourselves to God's influence our deepest destiny is fulfilled.
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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.
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A new position of responsibility will usually show a man to be a far stronger creature than was supposed.
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a man does not cry because he is sad, he is sad because he cries
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Results should not be too voluntarily aimed at or too busily thought of. They are sure to float up of their own accord from a long enough daily work at a given matter.
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The man whose acquisitions stick is the man who is always achieving and advancing whilst his neighbors, spending most of their time in relearning what they once knew but have forgotten, simply hold their own.
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It is art that makes life, and I know of no substitute whatsoever for the force and beauty of its process.
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My experience is what I agree to attend to.
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To study the abnormal is the best way of understanding the normal.
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Individuality is founded in feeling
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We can change our circumstances by a mere change of our attitude.
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What the whole community comes to believe in grasps the individual as in a vise.
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