GOOD NEWS AND BAD NEWS FOR NEW LAW STUDENTS, COURTESY OF WILLIAM JAMES . . .  Here are two pertinent quotes for new law students from The Principles of Psychology by William James (1890):

From the chapter "Habit," the good news: As we become permanent drunkards by so many separate drinks, so we become saints in the moral, and authorities and experts in the practical and scientific spheres, by so many separate acts and hours of work. Let no youth have any anxiety about the upshot of his education, whatever the line of it may be. If he keep faithfully busy each hour of the working day, he may safely leave the final result to itself. He can with perfect certainty count on waking up some fine morning, to find himself one of the competent ones of his generation, in whatever pursuit he may have singled out.

From the chapter "Instinct," the bad news, at least for the slightly older students: [T]he ideas gained by men before they are twenty-five are practically the only ideas they shall have in their lives. They cannot get anything new. Disinterested curiosity is past, the mental grooves and channels set, the power of assimilation gone. If by chance we ever do learn anything about some entirely new topic we are afflicted with a strange sense of insecurity . . .

Am I the only law-related weblogger quoting James today? Probably so, but he's still all over the Internet. Here's what Jacques Barzun once said about James and his Principles of Psychology: "The work that James gave to the world in 1890 is an American masterpiece which, quite like Moby Dick, ought to be read from beginning to end at least once by every person professing to be educated."

So there you go: proof that you'd better get reading. Unless you're a law student, that is--law students have plenty of other stuff to read. For the sake of the profession, let's hope they retain it despite the bad news from William James.

Comments

[Dave!]

"[T]he ideas gained by men before they are twenty-five are practically the only ideas they shall have in their lives."

I am *so* screwed. :)