How to Talk With Practically Anybody About Practically Anything (1970), p. 136.
“A great many people think they are thinking when they are really rearranging their prejudices.”
“A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices.”
Not found in James's writings. Earliest similar cite is to Episcopal Methodist Bishop W. F. Oldham in 1906. Quote Investigator https://quoteinvestigator.com/2017/05/10/merely/. A related quote is in James's 1907 book, Pragmatism: A New Name for Some Old Ways of Thinking: "Our minds thus grow in spots; and like grease-spots, the spots spread. But we let them spread as little as possible: we keep unaltered as much of our old knowledge, as many of our old prejudices and beliefs, as we can. We patch and tinker more than we renew. The novelty soaks in; it stains the ancient mass; but it is also tinged by what absorbs it."
Misattributed
“A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely
rearranging their prejudices.”
As quoted in "Salma Hayek's Condom Campaign" at femalefirst.co.uk http://www.femalefirst.co.uk/health/3382004.htm
Context: Before you do anything, think. If you do something to try and impress someone, to be loved, accepted or even to get someone's attention, stop and think. So many people are busy trying to create an image, they die in the process. Sleeping with the wrong person is one thing, but not using a condom because you want to please someone, or because you're in a romantic bubble, is another. … I wish we weren't so busy trying to impress people.
Source: Peg Woffington (1853), CHAPTER I
