William James quote about life/revolver
October 25, 2010 5:45 PM   Subscribe

William James quote about life coming at us as if fired from a revolver?

I think I heard (perhaps on In Our Time with Melvyn Bragg, but longer ago than the recent William James episode) someone quote a line something like "The world comes at us as if fired from a revolver," describing the nature of perception, and attributed it to William James.

I haven't been able to find any source or even a reference to this quote. Does this ring a bell?
posted by rustcellar to Religion & Philosophy (2 answers total) 4 users marked this as a favorite
 
A comment on a Guardian article refers to the quote as "as if shot from the barrel of a revolver", but putting that into Google gives nothing.
posted by kagredon at 4:13 AM on October 26, 2010 [1 favorite]


Response by poster: Well, huh. Thanks kagredon. I guess the mystery remains.
posted by rustcellar at 7:50 PM on October 26, 2010


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