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survival was the goal of man’s mental as much as his physical development,
you cannot objectify the subjective, you cannot generalize the specific.
more and more of them believe that their child’s every little trouble betrays a momentous condition.
view the origins of consciousness primarily in terms of formative childhood experience, and only secondarily in terms of pure physical function.
what most men consider their rationally selected actions are in fact idiosyncratic responses (again, established during the decisive experiences of childhood) that have grown strong enough, through repeated use, to overpower other urges and reactions—that have won, in other words, the mental battle for survival.
James’s thoughts on “Necessary Truths and the Effects of Experience”
Whatever I thought right seemed bad to others; whatever seemed wrong to me, others approved of. I ran into feuds wherever I found myself, I met disfavor wherever I went; if I longed for happiness, I only stirred up misery; so I had to be called “Woeful”: Woe is all I possess. Wagner, Die Walküre
the fantastic activity that surrounded the getting and keeping of money.
the defenders of decent
society and the disciples of degeneracy are often the same people,
childhood has never been viewed by most Americans as a separate and special stage of growth, fundamentally different from adulthood and subject to its own rules and laws.
our minds work on the basis of self-interest, the survival of the organism, and our habitual ways of pursuing that interest become defined when we’re children and adolescents.”
Freud began by assuming sexual abuse as the basis for all hysteria, but recently he seems to have altered that view, and decided that fantasies concerning abuse may be the actual cause.”
“Feelings, perhaps even delusions, of persecution that have taken root after some traumatic emotional experience or set of experiences, but which do not result in dementia—Krafft-Ebing’s
warning signs for predicting future dangerous
behavior—excessive imagination is one of them.”
history is the principal force that shapes cultures, rather than race or geographical environment,
I have no interest in dealing with a man whose power is limited by elections.
a true Wall Street hypocrite, one who spoke publicly about God and the family but
privately kept his yacht stocked with mistresses and enjoyed the esteem of men who lived by similar rules.
the fabled Four Hundred top families in the city, along with their various relations and hangers-on, can shove, snipe, gossip, and gorge with an abandon that the amused onlooker might find fascinating but the unfortunate interloper will deem nothing short of deplorable.
