As a rule reading fiction is as hard to me as trying to hit a target by hurling feathers at it. I need resistance to celebrate! – William James
No matter how full a reservoir of maxims one may possess, and no matter how good ones sentiments may be, if one have not taken advantage of every concrete opportunity to act, ones character may remain entirely unaffected for the better. With good intentions, hell proverbially is paved. – William James
Truth lives, in fact, for the most part on a credit system. Our thoughts and beliefs pass, so long as nothing challenges them, just as bank-notes pass so long as nobody refuses them. – William James
No matter how full a reservoir of maxims one may possess, and no matter how good ones sentiments may be, if one has not taken advantage of every concrete opportunity to act, ones character may remain entirely unaffected for the better. – William James
I have never looked upon ease and happiness as ends in themselves — such an ethical basis I call more proper for a herd of swine. The ideals which have lighted me on my way and time after time given me new courage to face life cheerfully, have been Truth, Goodness, and Beauty. – Albert Einstein, “What I Believe,” Forum and Century, 1930