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What holds attention determines action.

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
Attention
Action
Determines
Holds
Determine

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For morality life is a war, and the service of the highest is a sort of cosmic patriotism which also calls for volunteers.
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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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There is no worse lie than a truth misunderstood bu those who hear it.
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With mere good intentions hell is proverbially paved.
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The teachers of this country, one may say, have its future in their hands.
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Considering the inner fitness of things, one would rather think that the very first act of a will endowed with freedom should be to sustain the belief in the freedom itself.
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Seek out that particular mental attribute which makes you feel most deeply and vitally alive.
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No more fiendish punishment could be devised, were such a thing physically possible, than that one should be turned loose in society and remain absolutely unnoticed.
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Tell him to live by yes and no - yes to everything good, no to everything bad.
William James
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As the brain-changes are continuous, so do all these consciousnesses melt into each other like dissolving views. Properly they are but one protracted consciousness, one unbroken stream.
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Beyond the very extreme of fatigue and distress, we may find amounts of ease and power we never dreamed ourselves to own sources of strength never taxed at all because we never push through the obstruction
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There are no differences but differences of degree between different degrees of difference and no difference.
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I wished by treating Psychology like a natural science, to help her become one.
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In the last analysis, then, we believe that we all know and think about and talk about the same world because we believe our PERCEPTS are possessed by us in common
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The first thing that intellect does with an object is to class it with something else.
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Success plus Self-esteem equals Pretensions.
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A man of sense is never discouraged by difficulties he redoubles his industry and his diligence, he perseveres and infallibly prevails at last.
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Every time a resolve or a fine glow of feeling evaporates without bearing practical fruit is worse than a chance lost it works so as positively to hinder future resolutions and emotions from taking the normal path of discharge.
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Real servants don't try to use God for their purposes. They let God use them for His purposes.
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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