The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook.
Philosophers
William James
Born in New York in 1842, William James laid the intellectual foundations of both psychology and philosophy in America. He established the country's first psychology course in 1875, earning the title 'father of American psychology,' and co-founded pragmatism with Peirce. His concept of the 'stream of consciousness' influenced literature as well as science, and The Varieties of Religious Experience reframed religion as personal inner experience.
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William James's Other Quotes
The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes of mind.
Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.
Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will help create the fact.
The true is the name of whatever proves itself to be good in the way of belief, and good, too, for definite, assignable reasons.
A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices.
Related Quotes
Do not say a little in many words, but a great deal in few.
-- Pythagoras
I know that I do not know.
-- Plato
A free man thinks of nothing less than of death, and his wisdom is a meditation not on death but on life.
-- Benedictus de Spinoza
In life and business, there are two cardinal sins: The first is to act precipitously without thought, and the second is to not act at all.
-- Carl Icahn
Suckers try to win arguments, non-suckers try to win.
-- Nassim Nicholas Taleb