If there is aught of good in the style, it is the result of ceaseless …

William James
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If there is aught of good in the style, it is the result of ceaseless toil in rewriting. Everything comes out wrong with me at first; but when once objectified in a crude shape, I can torture and poke and scrape and pat it till it offends me no more. ✨ The Letters of William James.
Death
13

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Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task. ✨ William James (2008). The Letters of William James, p.249, Cosimo, Inc.

If there is aught of good in the style, it is the result of ceaseless toil in rewriting. Everything comes out wrong with me at first; but when once objectified in a crude shape, I can torture and poke and scrape and pat it till it offends me no more. ✨ The Letters of William James.

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