It would probably astound each of us beyond measure to be let into his neighbors mind and to find how different the scenery was there from that of hi… - William James

The error is needed to set off the truth, much as a dark background is required for exhibiting the brightness of a picture.

The most violent revolutions in an individual's beliefs leave most of his old order standing. Time and space, cause and effect, nature and history, and one's own biography remain untouched. New truth is always a go-between, a smoother-over of transitions. It marries old opinion to new fact so as ever to show a minimum of jolt, a maximum of continuity. We hold a theory true just in proportion to its success in solving this 'problem of maxima and minima.' But success in solving this problem is eminently a matter of approximation. We say this theory solves it on the whole more satisfactorily than that theory; but that means more satisfactorily to ourselves, and individuals will emphasize their points of satisfaction differently.

These then are my last words to you. Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the fact.