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Asceticism may be a mere expression of organic hardihood, disgusted with too much ease.

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
Organic
Ease
Mere
Expression
May
Much
Hardihood
Asceticism
Disgusted

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I am well aware how odd it must seem to some of you to hear me say that an idea is true so long as to believe it is profitable to our lives
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Truth in our ideas means their power to work.
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In the last analysis, then, we believe that we all know and think about and talk about the same world because we believe our PERCEPTS are possessed by us in common
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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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Psychology ought certainly to give the teacher radical help.
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If merely 'feeling good' could decide, drunkenness would be the supremely valid human experience.
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If evolution and the survival of the fittest be true at all, the destruction of prey and of human rivals must have been among the most important. . . . It is just because human bloodthirstiness is such a primitive part of us that it is so hard to eradicate, especially when a fight or a hunt is promised as part of the fun.
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No more fiendish punishment could be devised, were such a thing physically possible, than that one should be turned loose in society and remain absolutely unnoticed.
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Man can alter his life by altering his thinking.
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As long as there are postmen, life will have zest.
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Truth is something that happens to an idea.
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That which is most personal, is most interesting.
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You may not get everything you dream about, but you will never get anything you don't dream about.
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Most men's friendships are too inarticulate.
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To be a real philosopher all that is necessary is to hate some one else's type of thinking.
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There can be no difference anywhere that does not make a difference somewhere.
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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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When thoughts do not neutralize an undesirable emotion, action will.
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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.
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