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About this quote

What does it mean?
James expresses that discovering psychological motivations is particularly exciting to him. This highlights his interest in inner mental processes.
In plain terms
Finding out the psychological reasons behind things excites him.
What can you take from it?
Understanding psychological motives is inherently rewarding.

Where it applies

  • character development
  • therapy
  • self analysis

Putting it to work

  • probe underlying motives
  • study psychological patterns

Questions to consider

  • Are we ever fully self aware?
  • Why do motives fascinate us?

Another view

Some reasons are hidden even from psychology.

More from Henry James

  1. We must grant the artist his subject, his idea, what the French call his donnee; our criticism is applied only to what he makes of it. Naturally I do not mean …

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  2. The story had held us, round the fire, sufficiently breathless, but except the obvious remark that it was gruesome, as, on Christmas Eve in an old house, a str…

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  3. What is character but the determination of incident? What is incident but the illustration of character?

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