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Our ideas must agree with realities, be such realities concrete or abstract

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
Must
Inconsistency
Realities
Concrete
Abstract
Agree
Reality
Truth
Ideas

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Man, whatever else he may be, is primarily a practical being, whose mind is given him to aid in adapting him to this world's life
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Smitten as we are with the vision of social righteousness, a God indifferent to everything but adulation, and full of partiality for his individual favorites, lacks an essential element of largeness.
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The university most worthy of rational admiration is that one in which your lonely thinker can feel himself lonely, most positively furthered, and most richly fed
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Our minds thus grow in spots and like grease-spots, the spots spread. But we let them spread as little as possible: we keep unaltered as much of our old knowledge, as many of our old prejudices and beliefs, as we can. We patch and tinker more than we renew. The novelty soaks in it stains the ancient mass but it is also tinged by what absorbs it.
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As a rule we disbelieve all the facts and theories for which we have no use.
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There's nothing so absurd that if you repeat it often enough, people will believe it.
William James
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If any one phrase could gather its (religion's) universal message, that phrase would be, - All is not vanity in this Universe, whatever the appearances may suggest.
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The baby, assailed by eyes, ears, nose, skin, and entrails at once, feels it all as one great blooming, buzzing confusion.
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I will act as if I do make a difference.
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The word 'cause' is an altar to an unknown god.
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Volition . . . takes place only when there are a number of conflicting systems of ideas, and depends on our having a complex field of consciousness.
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Intelligence is a fixed goal with variable means of achieving it.
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Earnestness means willingness to live with energy, though energy bring pain.
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Lives based on having are less free than lives based either on doing or being.
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In the practical use of our intellect, forgetting is as important as remembering.
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So far war has been the only force that can discipline a whole community, and until an equivalent discipline is organized, I believe that war must have its way.
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Ninety-nine hundredths or, possibly, nine hundred and ninety-nine thousandths of our activity is purely automatic and habitual, from our rising in the morning to our lying down each night.
William James
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Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the fact.
William James
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Do every day or two something for no other reason than its difficulty.
William James
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You must bring out of each word its practical cash-value, set it at work within the stream of your experience.
William James