Questions

[pjthompson]

Random quote of the day:

“Believe, and you shall be right, for you shall save yourself. Doubt, and you shall be right, for you will perish. The only difference is that to believe is greatly to your advantage.”

—William James, “Rationality, Activity and Faith”



Disclaimer: The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Key and Peele, Celine Dion, or Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

 

Comments

Cribbed?

[nodrog]

“Whether you believe you can, or you believe you cannot - either way, you’re right.“

-Henry Ford

I think the James version works better, but I wonder if there’s a connection.

Re: Cribbed?

[pjthompson]

It's hard to say with the Wonderful World of Quotes. This one says that, that one says this, everyone is influenced and inspired by everyone else. And the internet is a great proliferator of misquotes and misattributions. So I don't take quotes on faith, generally, and don't use them without a solid attribution.

If I had the energy (which I don't), I'd trace both back to their earliest utterance and see if there's a credible source for the Henry Ford quote. The James quote came from the article listed and was published in The Princeton Review, July-Dec 1882.

Re: Cribbed?

[nodrog]

And they might be independently expressing a commonly-held view of the day!

- Oh, the Ford quote is valid; I knew where he said it when I first learned it.

Re: Cribbed?

[pjthompson]

Also true.