10 Quotes by William James about war

  • Author William James
  • Quote

    Its horrors are a cheap price to pay for rescue from the only alternative supposed, of a world of clerks and teachers, of co-education and zo-ophily, of 'consumer's leagues and associated charities, of industrialism unlimited and feminism unabashed. No scorn, no hardness, no valour any more! Fie upon such a cattleyard of a planet!

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  • Author William James
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    So far war has been the only force that can discipline a whole community, and until an equivalent discipline is organized, I believe that war must have its way.

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  • Author William James
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    The war-function has grasped us so far; but the constructive interests may some day seem no less imperative, and impose on the individual a hardly lighter burden.

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  • Author William James
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    Man lives by habits indeed, but what he lives for is thrill and excitements. ... From time immemorial war has been ... the supremely thrilling excitement.

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  • Author William James
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    Hardly ever can a youth transferred to the society of his betters unlearn the nasality and other vices of speech bred in him by the associations of his growing years. Hardly ever, indeed, no matter how much money there be in his pocket, can he ever learn to dress like a gentleman-born. The merchants offer their wares as eagerly to him as to the veriest swell, but he simply cannot buy the right things.

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  • Author William James
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    The subjectivist in morals, when his moral feelings are at war with the facts about him, is always free to seek harmony by toningdown the sensitiveness of the feelings.

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  • Author William James
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    For morality life is a war, and the service of the highest is a sort of cosmic patriotism which also calls for volunteers.

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  • Author William James
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    In modern eyes, precious though wars may be they must not be waged solely for the sake of the ideal harvest. Only when forced upon one, is a war now thought permissible.

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