For whatever a man imagines that he cannot
do, he imagines it necessarily, and by that very imagination he is so disposed
that in truth he cannot do what he imagines he cannot do. For so long as he
imagines that he cannot do this or that, so long is he determined not to do it:
and consequently, so long it is impossible to him that he should do it.
However, if we pay attention to these things, which depend solely on opinion,
we shall be able to conceive that a man should under-estimate himself.
Benedict Spinoza - Ethics – Boyle translation
2 comments:
Not sure I can get my head around that at 08:19 a.m. Have to try it again later in the day.
JH - it's a bit convoluted, but Spinoza is saying that thinking you can't do something and not being able to do it are the same thing. It's all in the mind.
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