“No concrete test of what is really true has ever been agreed upon.”

Source: "The Will to Believe" p. 15 http://books.google.com/books?id=Moqh7ktHaJEC&pg=PA15
Source: 1890s, The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy (1897)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Jan. 26, 2022. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "No concrete test of what is really true has ever been agreed upon." by William James?
William James photo
William James 246
American philosopher, psychologist, and pragmatist 1842–1910

Related quotes

“The happiest she'd ever been was with him, and the saddest. Was that the true test of love?”

Stewart O'Nan (1961) American writer

Source: The Odds: A Love Story

Muhammad Ali photo

“All through my life, I have been tested. My will has been tested, my courage has been tested, my strength has been tested. Now my patience and endurance are being tested.”

The Soul of a Butterfly, 2004
Variant: All through my life I have been tested. My will has been tested, my courage has been tested, my strength has been tested. Now my patience and endurance are being tested.
Source: The Soul of a Butterfly: Reflections on Life's Journey

Pema Chödron photo

“When things fall apart and we’re on the verge of we know not what, the test of each of us is to stay on that brink and not concretize.”

Pema Chödron (1936) American philosopher

When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times (1997)

Joshua Reynolds photo

“The true test of all the arts, is not solely whether the production is a true copy of nature, but whether it answers the end of art, which is to produce a pleasing effect upon the mind.”

Joshua Reynolds (1723–1792) English painter, specialising in portraits

Discourse no. 13; vol. 2, p. 136.
Discourses on Art

Bjarne Stroustrup photo

“A program that has not been tested does not work.”

[Stroustrup, Bjarne, The C++ Programming Language, 712]

Barack Obama photo

“A lot has happened over the years. And while this nation has been tested by war, and it's been tested by recession and all manner of challenges — I stand before you again tonight, after almost two terms as your president, to tell you I am more optimistic about the future of America than ever before.”

Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America

2016, DNC Address (July 2016)
Context: A lot has happened over the years. And while this nation has been tested by war, and it's been tested by recession and all manner of challenges — I stand before you again tonight, after almost two terms as your president, to tell you I am more optimistic about the future of America than ever before.
How could I not be — after all that we’ve achieved together? After the worst recession in 80 years, we fought our way back.

Richard Dawkins photo

“So-called alternative medicine either hasn’t been tested or it has failed its tests.”

Richard Dawkins (1941) English ethologist, evolutionary biologist and author

The Enemies of Reason (August 2007)
Context: If any remedy is tested under controlled scientific conditions and proved to be effective, it will cease to be alternative and will simply become medicine. So-called alternative medicine either hasn’t been tested or it has failed its tests.

Louis Sullivan photo
Florence Nightingale photo

“I agree as to the doubtful value of competitive examination. The qualities which you really want, viz., self-control, self-reliance, habits of accurate thought, integrity and what you generally call trustworthiness, are not decided by competitive examination, which test little else than the memory.”

Florence Nightingale (1820–1910) English social reformer and statistician, and the founder of modern nursing

Source: Letter to Lord Stanley (May 17, 1857), published in Florence Nightingale on Wars and the War Office: Collected Works of Florence Nightingale. Vol. 15 (2011), edited by Lynn McDonald, p. 265. ( online on google books https://books.google.at/books?id=NvJ0CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA265)

Related topics