Date: January, 1884

"The attempt at introspective analysis in these cases is in fact like seizing a spinning top to catch its motion, or trying to turn up the gas quickly enough to see how the darkness looks."

— James, William (1842-1910)

Date: January, 1884

"When very fresh, our minds carry an immense horizon with them."

— James, William (1842-1910)

Date: January, 1884

"And in states of extreme brain-fag the horizon is narrowed almost to the passing word, -- the associative machinery, however, providing for the next word turning up in orderly sequence, until at last the tired thinker is led to some kind of a conclusion."

— James, William (1842-1910)

Date: January, 1884

"I wish that space were here afforded to show what, in most cases of rapid thinking, the fringe or halo is with which each successive image is enveloped."

— James, William (1842-1910)

Date: January, 1884

"The notion of sameness-with-something-else is in fact one of the 'fringes' in which a substantive mental kernel-of-content can appear enveloped."

— James, William (1842-1910)

Date: January, 1884

"If this "solidarity" of the stream of feelings is all that is meant by the Ego, -- if the Ego is merely a name for that fact, -- well and good, -- we seem agreed!"

— James, William (1842-1910)

Date: 1887

"You see, he explained, I consider that a man's brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose."

— Doyle, Arthur Conan (1859-1930)

Date: 1887

"A fool takes in all the lumber of every sort that he comes across, so that the knowledge which might be useful to him gets crowded out, or at best is jumbled up with a lot of other things, so that he has a difficulty in laying his hands upon it."

— Doyle, Arthur Conan (1859-1930)

Date: 1890

"Imps in eager caucus / Raffle for my  soul."

— Dickinson, Emily (1830-1886)

Date: 1890

"I've known her from an ample nation / Choose one; / Then close the valves of her attention / Like stone."

— Dickinson, Emily (1830-1886)