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Geniuses are commonly believed to excel other men in their power of sustained attention . . . But it is their genius making them attentive, not their attention making geniuses of them.

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
Geniuses
Sustained
Commonly
Believed
Genius
Attention
Making
Attentive
Power
Excel

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The great use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it.
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To change ones life: Start immediately. Do it flamboyantly.
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Pretend what we may, the whole man within us is at work when we form our philosophical opinions.
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We hear in these days of scientific enlightenment a great deal of discussion about the efficacy of Prayer. Many reasons are given why we should not pray. Others give reasons why we should pray. Very little is said of the reason we do pray. The reason is simple: We pray because we cannot help praying.
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The great thing, then, in all education, is to make our nervous system our ally instead of our enemy.
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Pessimism leads to weakness. Optimism leads to power.
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To study the abnormal is the best way of understanding the normal.
William James
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Habit is the great flywheel of society.
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The good or bad is not in the circumstance, but only in the mind...that encounters it.
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Ingenuity in meeting and pursuing the pupil, that tact for the concrete situation, though they are the alpha and omega of the teacher's art, are things to which psychology cannot help us in the least.
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To give the theory plenty of 'rope' and see if it hangs itself eventually is better tactics than to choke it off at the outset b abstract accusations of self-contradiction
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The true is the name of whatever proves itself to be good in the way of belief, and good, too, for definite, assignable reasons.
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To improve the golden moment of opportunity, and catch the good that is within our reach, is the great art of life.
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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.
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As a rule reading fiction is as hard to me as trying to hit a target by hurling feathers at it. I need resistance to celebrate!
William James
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Lets take full advantage of this discovery
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All that we need explicitly to note is that, the more the passive attention is relied on, by keeping the material interesting and the less the kind of attention requiring effort is appealed to the more smoothly and pleasantly the classroom work goes on.
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I don't see how an epigram, being a bolt from the blue, with no introduction or cue, ever gets itself writ.
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The one who thinks over his experiences most, and weaves them into systematic relations with each other, will be the one with the best memory.
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Happiness comes of the capacity to feel deeply, to enjoy simply, to think freely, to risk life, to be needed. which give happiness. Thomas Jefferson We never enjoy perfect happiness our most fortunate successes are mingled with sadness some anxieties always perplex the reality of our satisfaction.
William James