The mind, in short, works on the data it receives very much as the sculptor works on his block of stone.
William JamesIt is our attitude at the beginning of a difficult task which, more than anything else, will affect its successful outcome.
William JamesTo be fertile in hypotheses is the first perquisite of creativity and to be willing to throw them away the moment experience contradicts them is the next.
William JamesAll the daily routine of life, our dressing and undressing, the coming and going from our work or carrying through of its various operations, is utterly without mental reference to pleasure and pain, except under rarely realized conditions.
William James