William James (1842-1910)

William James (1842-1910)

William James (January 11, 1842 – August 26, 1910) was a pioneering American psychologist and philosopher who was trained as a physician. He wrote influential books on the young science of psychology, educational psychology, psychology of religious experience and mysticism, and on the philosophy of pragmatism. He was the brother of novelist Henry James and of diarist Alice James. In the summer of 1878, James married Alice Gibbens.

William James was born at the Astor House in New York City. He was the son of Henry James Sr., an independently wealthy and notoriously eccentric Swedenborgian theologian well acquainted with the literary and intellectual elites of his day. The intellectual brilliance of the James family milieu and the remarkable epistolary talents of several of its members have made them a subject of continuing interest to historians, biographers, and critics.

James interacted with a wide array of writers and scholars throughout his life, including his godfather Ralph Waldo Emerson, his godson William James Sidis, as well as Charles Sanders Peirce, Bertrand Russell, Josiah Royce, Ernst Mach, John Dewey, Macedonio Fernández, Walter Lippmann, Mark Twain, Horatio Alger, Jr., Henri Bergson and Sigmund Freud.

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Quotes·Quotation

Attitude

¶ The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes.

¶ The greatest revolution of our generation is the discovery that human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_James

Auguste Rodin (1840-1917)

Francois-Auguste Rodin (1840-1917)

François-Auguste-René Rodin (12 November 1840 – 17 November 1917) was a French sculptor, and the preeminent sculptor of the modern era. He played a pivotal role in the art of the late nineteenth century, both excelling at and rebelling against the Beaux-Arts tradition.

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Quotes·Quotations by Auguste Rodin

Arts

¶ I choose a block of marble and chop off whatever I don't need.
when asked how he managed to make his remarkable statues

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@ Nothing is a waste of time if you use the experience wisely.
As quoted in Heads and Tales (1936) by Malvina Hoffman, p. 47

@ The artist must create a spark before he can make a fire and before art is born, the artist must be ready to be consumed by the fire of his own creation.
As quoted in A Toolbox for Humanity: More Than 9000 Years of Thought (2004) by Lloyd Albert Johnson, p. 7

@ I know very well that one must fight, for one is often in contradiction to the spirit of the age.
As quoted in "Rodin freed human spirit" in The Des Moines Register (7 January 2007)

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auguste_Rodin
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Auguste_Rodin

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F. H. Bradley (1846-1924)

F. H. Bradley (1846-1924)

Francis Herbert Bradley (30 January 1846 – 18 September 1924) was a British idealist philosopher.

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Adam and Eve

@ “Adam knew Eve his wife and she conceived.” It is a pity that this is still the only knowledge of their wives at which some men seem to arrive.
F. H. Bradley, Aphorisms, no. 94 (1930)

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http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/F._H._Bradley