William James: Making

William James was American philosopher, psychologist, and pragmatist. Explore interesting quotes on making.

William James: 492 quotes38 likes

“It is an odd circumstance that neither the old nor the new, by itself, is interesting; the absolutely old is insipid; the absolutely new makes no appeal at all. The old in the new is what claims the attention,—the old with a slightly new turn.”

William James

Chapter XI: Attention http://books.google.com/books?id=U6ETAAAAYAAJ&q=%22It+is+an+odd+circumstance+that+neither+the+old+nor+the+new+by+itself+is+interesting+the+absolutely+old+is+insipid+the+absolutely+new+makes+no+appeal+at+all+The+old+in+the+new+is+what+claims+the+attention+the+old+with+a+slightly+new+turn%22&pg=PA108#v=onepage <br class="br">1910s, Talks to Teachers on Psychology and to Students on Some of Life's Ideals (1911)

“We can act as if there were a God; feel as if we were free; consider Nature as if she were full of special designs; lay plans as if we were to be immortal; and we find then that these words do make a genuine difference in our moral life.”

William James

Lecture III, "The Reality of the Unseen"
1900s, The Varieties of Religious Experience (1902)

“A difference which makes no difference is no difference at all.”

William James

As quoted in William James: The Essential Writings (1971), edited by Bruce W. Wilshire, p. xiii
1900s

“The great thing, then, in all education, is to make our nervous system our ally instead of our enemy.”

William James

Source: 1890s, The Principles of Psychology (1890), Ch. 4

“There are moments of sentimental and mystical experience... that carry an enormous sense of inner authority and illumination with them when they come. But they come seldom, and they do not come to everyone; and the rest of life makes either no connection with them, or tends to contradict them more than it confirms them. Some persons follow more the voice of the moment in these cases, some prefer to be guided by the average results. Hence the sad discordancy of so many of the spiritual judgments of human beings; a discordancy which will be brought home to us acutely enough before these lectures end.”

William James

Lecture I, "Religion and Neurology"
1900s, The Varieties of Religious Experience (1902)