All natural happiness thus seems infected with a contradiction. The breath of the sepulchre surrounds it.
WILLIAM JAMESMost men have a good memory for facts connected with their own pursuits.
More William James Quotes
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Habit is a second nature, or rather, it is ‘ten times nature’.
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Habit is thus the enormous fly-wheel of society, its most precious conservative agent. It alone is what keeps us all within the bounds of ordinance.
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Men habitually use only a small part of the power which they actually possess.
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Religious awe is the same organic thrill which we feel in a forest at twilight, or in a mountain gorge.
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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
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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.
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The deepest hunger in human beings is the desire to be appreciated.
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The instant field of the present is at all times what I call the ‘pure’ experience. It is only virtually or potentially either object or subject as yet.
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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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With no attempt there can be no failure; with no failure no humiliation.
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With mere good intentions hell is proverbially paved.
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The attitude of unhappiness is not only painful, it is mean and ugly.
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We hear the words we have spoken, feel our own blow as we give it, or read in the bystander’s eyes the success or failure of our conduct.
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All religions begin with the cry Help.
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Genius… means little more than the faculty of perceiving in an unhabitual way.
WILLIAM JAMES