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Every claim creates an obligation.

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
Creates
Obligation
Claims
Every
Claim

More quotes by William James

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Only necessity understood, and bondage to the highest is identical with true freedom.
William James
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The world we see that seems so insane is the result of a belief system that is not working. To perceive the world differently, we must be willing to change our belief system, let the past slip away, expand our sense of now, and dissolve the fear in our minds.
William James
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'Facts' are the bounds of human knowledge, set for it, not by it.
William James
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Man, biologically considered ... is simply the most formidable of all beasts of prey, and, indeed, the only one that preys systematically on its own kind.
William James
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Anything you may hold firmly in your imagination can be yours.
William James
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Habit is the enormous flywheel of society, its most precious conservative agent. There is no more miserable human being than one in whom nothing is habitual but indecision. Full half the time of such a man goes to the deciding, or regretting, of matters which ought to be so ingrained in him as practically not to exist for his consciousness at all.
William James
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Most unhappiness is caused because people listen to themselves... instead of talking to themselves.
William James
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A sense of humor is just common sense dancing.
William James
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In its broadest term, religion says that there is an unseen order, and that our supreme good lies in rightful relations to it.
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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As Charles Lamb says, there is nothing so nice as doing good by stealth and being found out by accident, so I now say it is even nicer to make heroic decisions and to be prevented by 'circumstances beyond your control' from ever trying to execute them.
William James
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In business for yourself, not by yourself.
William James
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We can change our circumstances by a mere change of our attitude.
William James
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A new position of responsibility will usually show a man to be a far stronger creature than was supposed.
William James
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What holds attention determines action.
William James
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The aim of science is always to reduce complexity to simplicity.
William James
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Life shall be built in doing and suffering and creating.
William James
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An experience, perceptual or conceptual, must conform to reality in order to be true
William James
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The only function that one experience can perform is to lead into another experience and the only fulfillment we can speak of isthe reaching of a certain experienced end. When one experience leads to (or can lead to) the same end as another, they agree in function.
William James
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On pragmatistic principles, if the hypothesis of God works satisfactorily in the widest sense of the word, it is true.
William James