"First... a new theory is attacked as..." - Quote by William James
First... a new theory is attacked as absurd; then it is admitted to be true, but obvious and insignificant; finally it is seen to be so important that its adversaries claim that they themselves discovered it.
More by William James
“Where quality is the thing sought after, the thing of supreme quality is cheap, whatever the price one has to pay for it.”
“When you have broken the reality into concepts you never can reconstruct it in its wholeness.”
“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.”
More on Theory
“There are theoretical reformers at all times, and all the world over, living on anticipation.”
“Those who fall in love with practice without science are like a sailor who enters a ship without a helm or a compass, and who never can be certain whither he is going.”
“My theory is that there is a finite amount of intelligence in a family, and you're supposed to gradually transfer it to your children over a period of many years. This is why your parents started to get so stupid just at the time in your life when you were getting really smart.”
More on Truth
“Live truth instead of professing it.”
“Truth and falsehood are opposed; but truth is the norm not of truth only but of falsehood also.”
“Truth resides in every human heart, and one has to search for it there, and to be guided by truth as one sees it. But no one has a right to coerce others to act according to his own view of truth.”