Quote

Psychology saves us from mistakes. It makes us more clear as to what we are about. We gain confidence in respect to any method which we are using as soon as we believe that it has theory as well as practice at its back.

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
Believe
Mistake
Mistakes
Practice
Using
Clear
Method
Makes
Confidence
Art
Soon
Saves
Back
Teaching
Psychology
Wells
Theory
Gain
Well
Respect
Gains

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Truth is what will be steadily borne out by subsequent experience
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The unrest which keeps the never stopping clock of metaphysics going is the thought that the nonexistence of this world is just as possible as its existence.
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The greatest discovery of the 20th Century is that our attitude of mind determines our quality of life, not circumstances.
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Man alone of all the creatures of earth can change his own pattern. Man alone is the architect of his own destiny.
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There must always be a discrepncy between concepts and reality, because the former are static and discontinuous while the latter is dynamic and flowing
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Every individual existence goes out in a lonely spasm of helpless agony.
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The prescription is that the subject must be made to show new aspects of itself to prompt new questions in a word, to change. From an unchanging subject the attention inevitably wanders away.
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It is very important that teachers should realize the importance of habit.
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Begin to be now what you will be hereafter.
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True ideas are those that we can assimilate, validate, corroborate, and verify. False ideas are those that we cannot. That is the practical difference it makes to us to have true ideas that therefore is the meaning of truth, for it is all that truth is known as.
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The function of ignoring, of inattention, is as vital a factor in mental progress as the function of attention itself.
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Most people live, whether physically, intellectually or morally, in a very restricted circle of their potential being.
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It is only the fundamental conceptions of psychology which are of real value to a teacher.
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The total possible consciousness may be split into parts which co-exist but mutually ignore each other.
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Seize the very first possible opportunity to act on every resolution you make, and on every emotional prompting you may experience in the direction of the habits you aspire to gain.
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A man may not achieve everything he has dreamed, but he will never achieve anything great without having dreamed it first.
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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.
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Man lives by habits indeed, but what he lives for is thrill and excitements. ... From time immemorial war has been ... the supremely thrilling excitement.
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If the grace of God miraculously operates, it probably operates through the subliminal door.
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As there is no worse lie than a truth misunderstood by those who hear it, so reasonable arguments, challenges to magnanimity, and appeals to sympathy or justice, are folly when we are dealing with human crocodiles and boa-constrictors.
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