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Every way of classifying a thing is but a way of handling it for some particular purpose.

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
Way
Classifying
Handling
Particular
Purpose
Thing
Every

More quotes by William James

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Genius... means little more than the faculty of perceiving in an unhabitual way.
William James
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The thinker philosophizes as the lover loves. Even were the consequences not only useless but harmful, he must obey his impulse.
William James
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The ideas gained by men before they are twenty-five are practically the only ideas they shall have in their lives.
William James
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Man lives for science as well as bread.
William James
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Owing to the fact that all experience is a process, no point of view can ever be the last one
William James
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No matter how full a reservoir of maxims one may possess, and no matter how good one's sentiments may be, if one has not taken advantage of every concrete opportunity to act, one's character may remain entirely unaffected for the better.
William James
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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.
William James
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Those thoughts are truth which guide us to beneficial interaction with sensible particulars as they occur, whether they copy these in advance or not.
William James
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The deepest longing in the human breast is the desire for appreciation.
William James
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Effort is the one strictly undervalued and original contribution we make to this world.
William James
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The great use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it. This life is worth living, we can say, since it is what we make it. Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the fact.
William James
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Organization and method mean much, but contagious human characters mean more in a university.
William James
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The great use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it.
William James
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The mind, in short, works on the data it receives very much as the sculptor works on his block of stone.
William James
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Procrastination is attitude's natural assassin. There's nothing so fatiguing as an uncompleted task
William James
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Any object not interesting in itself may become interesting through becoming associated with an object in which an interest already exists.
William James
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The most peculiar social self which one is apt to have is in the mind of the person one is in love with.
William James
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The teachers of this country, one may say, have its future in their hands.
William James
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Just for today I will exercise my soul in three ways: I will do somebody a good turn and not get found out. I will do at least two things I don't want to do
William James
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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.
William James