The gain isn't counted to the recluse and inactive that, having nothing to measure themselves by and never being tested by failure, they simmer and soak perpetually in conscious complacency. Alice James More Quotes by Alice James More Quotes From Alice James Who would ever give up the reality of dreams for relative knowledge? Alice James giving-up dream reality How sick one gets of being "good," how much I should respect myself if I could burst out and make everyone wretched for twenty-four hours; embody selfishness. Alice James selfishness sick twenties It is so comic to hear oneself called old, even at ninety I suppose! Alice James ninety comic age Notwithstanding the poverty of my outside experience, I have always had a significance for myself, and every chance to stumle along my straight and narrow little path, and to worship at the feet of my Deity, and what more can a human soul ask for? Alice James deities soul feet One has a greater sense of intellectual degradation after an interview with a doctor than from any human experience. Alice James What a sense of superiority it gives one to escape reading some book which everyone else is reading. Alice James escape everyone reading book I suppose one has a greater sense of intellectual degradation after an interview with a doctor than from any human experience. Alice James doctor human experience intellectual