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An experience, perceptual or conceptual, must conform to reality in order to be true

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
Reality
Truth
Must
Perceptual
Conceptual
Conform
Experience
True
Order

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The prevalent fear of poverty among the educated classes is the worst moral disease from which our civilization suffers.
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The man who knows governments most completely is he who troubles himself least about a definition which shall give their essence. Enjoying an intimate acquaintance with all their particularities in turn, he would naturally regard an abstract conception in which these were unified as a thing more misleading than enlightening.
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I don't sing because I'm happy I'm happy because I sing.
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In order to disprove the assertion that all crows are black, one white crow is sufficient.
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The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.
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There is but one cause of human failure. And that is man's lack of faith in his true Self.
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Man can alter his life by altering his thinking.
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Great indeed is Fear but it is not, as our military enthusiasts believe and try to make us believe, the only stimulus known for awakening the higher ranges of men's spiritual energy.
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To neglect the wise sayings of great thinkers is to deny ourselves the truest education.
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The aim of science is always to reduce complexity to simplicity.
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For the moment, what we attend to is reality.
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So to feel brave, act as if we were brave, use all our will to that end...and a courage-fit will very likely replace the fit of fear.
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You can't out-perform your self-image.
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Truth lives, in fact, for the most part on a credit system
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History is a bath of blood.
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It is astonishing how many mental operations we can explain when we have once grasped the principles of association
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The old question of whether there is design is idle. The real question is what is the world, whether or not it have a designer--and that can be revealed only by the study of all nature's particulars.
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The history of philosophy is to a great extent that of a certain clash of human temperaments.
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[T]here is very little difference between one person and another, but what little difference ther eis, is very important.
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We must make automatic and habitual, as early as possible, as many useful actions as we can...in the acquisition of a new habit, we must take car to launch ourselves with as strong and decided initiative as possible. Never suffer an exception to occur till the new habit is securely rooted in your life.
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