Common sense and a sense of humor are the same thing, moving at different speeds. A sense of humor is just common sense, dancing.
William JamesWhat every genuine philosopher (every genuine man, in fact) craves most is praise although the philosophers generally call it recognition!
William JamesConsidering the inner fitness of things, one would rather think that the very first act of a will endowed with freedom should be to sustain the belief in the freedom itself.
William JamesIn youth we may have an absolutely new experience, subjective or objective, every hour of the day. Apprehension is vivid, retentiveness strong, and our recollections of that time, like those in a time spent in rapid and interesting travel, are of something intricate, multitudinous, and long-drawn-out. But as each passing year converts some of this experience into automatic routine which we hardly note at all, the days and the weeks smooth themselves out in recollection to a contentless unit, and the years grow hollow and collapse.
William James