"When we of the so-called better classes..." - Quote by William James
When we of the so-called better classes are scared as men were never scared in history at material ugliness and hardship; when we put off marriage until our house can be artistic, and quake at the thought of having a child without a bank-account and doomed to manual labor, it is time for thinking men to protest against so unmanly and irreligious a state of opinion.
More by William James
“An idea, to be suggestive, must come to the individual with the force of revelation.”
“The most natively interesting object to a man is his own personal self and its fortunes. We accordingly see that the moment a thing becomes connected with the fortunes of the self, it forthwith becomes an interesting thing.”
“Geniuses are commonly believed to excel other men in their power of sustained attention . . . But it is their genius making them attentive, not their attention making geniuses of them.”
More on Society
“Have you not heard it said full oft,A woman's nay doth stand for naught?”
“Nothing is so contagious as example.”
“The fools standpoint is that all social institutions are games. He sees the whole world as game playing. That's why, when people take their games seriously and take on stern and pious expressions, the fool gets the giggles because he knows that it is all a game.”
More on Materialism
“We've been sold a concept of joy through advertising. It was somehow sold to us through a Gucci bag or something.”
“In an ugly and unhappy world the richest man can purchase nothing but ugliness and unhappiness.”
“Women want certain things in marriage--the right to a title and a front seat in the lap of luxury.”