"The first thing the intellect does with..." - Quote by William James
The first thing the intellect does with an object is to class it along with something else. But any object that is infinitely important to us and awakens our devotion feels to us also as if it must be sui generis and unique. Probably a crab would be filled with a sense of personal outrage if it could hear us class it without ado or apology as a crustacean, and thus dispose of it. 'I am no such thing,' it would say; 'I am MYSELF, MYSELF alone.
More by William James
More on Identity
“The fact was I didn't want to look my age, but I didn't want to act the age I wanted to look either. I also wanted to grow old enough to understand that sentence.”
“If you are black, if you are Puerto Rican or Hispanic, be proud of that. But don't let it become a problem. Let it become somebody else's problem.”
“I am who I am and I say what I think. I'm not putting a face on for the record.”
More on Intellect
“The pleasures of the intellect are permanent, the pleasures of the heart are transitory.”
“this woman is a genius in the day time and a beauty at night”
“How important is a constant intercourse with nature and the contemplation of natural phenomena to the preservation of moral and intellectual health!”