Metaphysics means nothing but an unusually obstinate effort to think clearly. William James More Quotes by William James More Quotes From William James A good hypothesis in science must have other properties than those of the phenomenon it is immediately invoked to explain, otherwise it is not prolific enough. William James hypothesisstatisticsenough Science, like life, feeds on its own decay. New facts burst old rules; then newly divined conceptions bind old and new together into a reconciling law. William James lawtogetherscience Pragmatism asks its usual question. "Grant an idea or belief to be true," it says, "what concrete difference will its being true make in anyone's actual life? How will the truth be realized? What experiences will be different from those which would obtain if the belief were false? What, in short, is the truth's cash-value in experiential terms? William James differencestruthideas The prevalent fear of poverty among the educated classes is the worst moral disease from which our civilization suffers. William James fearclasscivilization To give up pretensions is as blessed a relief as to get them ratified. William James deceptiongiving-upblessed If, then, you wish to insure the interest of your pupils, there is only one way to do it; and that is to make certain that they have something in their minds to attend with, when you begin to talk. That something can consist in nothing but a previous lot of ideas already interesting in themselves, and of such a nature that the incoming novel objects which you present can dovetail into them and form with them some kind of a logically associated or systematic whole. William James educationalphilosophyideas Footnotes -- little dogs yapping at the heels of the text William James dogwritinglittles All that we need explicitly to note is that, the more the passive attention is relied on, by keeping the material interesting; and the less the kind of attention requiring effort is appealed to; the more smoothly and pleasantly the classroom work goes on. William James educationalphilosophyinteresting A little cooling down of animal excitability and instinct, a little loss of animal toughness, a little irritable weakness and descent of the pain-threshold, will bring the worm at the core of all our usual springs of delight into full view, and turn us into melancholy metaphysicians. William James painlossspring O my Bergson, you are a magician, and your book is a marvel, a real wonder in the history of philosophy . . . In finishing it I found . . . such a flavor of persistent euphony, as of a rich river that never foamed or ran thin, but steadily and firmly proceeded with its banks full to the brim. William James realphilosophybook No reception without reaction, no impression without correlative expression, -this is the great maxim which the teacher ought never to forget. William James educationalteacherphilosophy A man with no philosophy in him is the most inauspicious and unprofitable of all possible social mates. William James socialmenphilosophy If the topic be highly abstract, show its nature by concrete examples. If it be unfamiliar, trace some point of analogy in it with the known. If it be inhuman, make it figure as part of a story. If it be difficult, couple its acquisition with some prospect of personal gain. Above all things, make sure that it shall run through certain inner changes, since no unvarying object can possibly hold the mental field for long. William James educationalcouplerunning There are two lives, the natural and the spiritual, and we must lose the one before we can participate in the other. William James spiritualnaturaltwo An educated memory depends on an organized system of associations; and its goodness depends on two of their peculiarities: first, on the persistency of the associations; and, second, on their number. William James educationalphilosophymemories We have grown literally afraid to be poor. We despise anyone who elects to be poor in order to simplify and save his inner life. If he does not join the general scramble and pant with the money-making street, we deem him spiritless and lacking in ambition William James politicalambitionorder If WE claim only reasonable probability, it will be as much as men who love the truth can ever at any given moment hope to have within their grasp. William James statisticsclaimsmen Truths emerge from facts, but they dip forward into facts again and add to them; which facts again create or reveal new truth (the word is indifferent) and so on indefinitely. The 'facts' themselves meanwhile are not true. They simply are. Truth is the function of the beliefs that start and terminate among them. William James truthaddfacts Our colleges ought to have lit up in us a lasting relish for a better kind of man, a loss of appetite for mediocrities. William James collegelossmen The soul is stronger than its surroundings. William James surroundingsstrongersoul
