The total mental efficiency of a man is the resultant of the working together of all his faculties. He is too complex a being for any one of them to have the casting vote. If any one of them do have the casting vote, it is more likely to be the strength of his desire and passion, the strength of the interest he takes in what is proposed. Concentration, memory, reasoning power, inventiveness, excellence of the senses, all are subsidiary to this.
William JamesIf merely 'feeling good' could decide, drunkenness would be the supremely valid human experience.
William JamesWe must not just patch and tinker with life. We must keep renewing it. Embrace novelty and uniqueness.
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 JamesCommon sense and a sense of humor are the same thing, moving at different speeds. A sense of humor is just common sense, dancing.
William JamesThe total mental efficiency of a man is the resultant of the working together of all his faculties. He is too complex a being for any one of them to have the casting vote. If any one of them do have the casting vote, it is more likely to be the strength of his desire and passion, the strength of the interest he takes in what is proposed. Concentration, memory, reasoning power, inventiveness, excellence of the senses, all are subsidiary to this.
William James