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About this quote

What does it mean?
Life feels like a real struggle where success matters, not just a game.
In plain terms
It matters if you win or lose, so treat life seriously.
What can you take from it?
Treat life as a real fight.

Where it applies

  • career
  • personal challenges
  • conflict

Putting it to work

  • engage fully
  • fight for values

Questions to consider

  • Is life a fight?
  • What are you fighting for?

Another view

Overemphasizing struggle may cause stress.

More from William James

  1. This life is worth living, we can say, since it is what we make it, from the moral point of view.

    Permalink to quote #40
  2. Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will help create the fact.

    Permalink to quote #42
  3. It is only by risking our persons from one hour to another that we live at all. And often enough our faith beforehand in an uncertified result is the only thin…

    Permalink to quote #39

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