Question 1

What is the best book to start with?

Accepted Answer

Pragmatism, lectures 2 and 6, and chapter 9 of The Principles of Psychology. The lectures are spoken English and show the gloss he puts on his own shock. The stream chapter stops the metaphor being only a literary brand.

Question 2

What is the most famous quote?

Accepted Answer

This library does not measure fame, and it does not rank lines by how often they are shared. The first line it files for William James that is not marked Questionable or Misattributed is “The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook.” (The Principles of Psychology, volume 2, Well attested).

Question 3

What is the most misquoted line?

Accepted Answer

None of the lines this library files for William James is marked Misattributed or Questionable. That is a fact about these cards, not a certificate that every popular sentence is theirs.

Question 4

What is one key idea, in a sentence?

Accepted Answer

Stream: Consciousness flows. The bits are what reflection makes afterwards.