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John Dewey

John Dewey Quotes

Philosopher

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Famous John Dewey Quotes

“The routine of custom tends to deaden even scientific inquiry; it stands in the way of discovery and of the active scientific worker. For discovery and inquiry are synonymous as an occupation. Science is a pursuit, not a coming into possession of the immutable; new theories as points of view are more prized than discoveries that quantitatively increase the store on hand.”

ThinkingWayHandsViewsTheoryDiscoveryIncreaseWorkersPossessionActivePoint Of ViewStoresPursuitCustomsOccupationRoutineInquiry
Book:Reconstruction in Philosophy
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“It is not truly realistic or scientific to take short views, to sacrifice the future to immediate pressure, to ignore facts and forces that are disagreeable and to magnify the enduring quality of whatever falls in with immediate desire. It is false that the evils of the situation arise from absence of ideals; they spring from wrong ideals.”

ThinkingFactsDesireFallEvilForceViewsQualitySituationSacrificeSpringIdealsPressureEndureAbsenceAriseRealisticDisagreeable
Book:The Middle Works, 1899-1924: 1920
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“Intelligent thinking means an increment of freedom in action-an emancipation from chance and fatality. 'Thought' represents the suggestion of a way of response that is different from that which would have been followed if intelligent observation had not effected an inference as to the future.”

IfsThinkingWayMeanHas BeensDifferentActionChanceIntelligentResponseObservationSuggestionsEmancipationInferenceFatality
Book:The Middle Works, 1899-1924: 1920
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“Historically the great movements for human liberation have always been movements to change institutions and not to preserve them intact. It follows from what has been said that there have been movements to bring about a changed distribution of power to do - and power to think and to express thought is a power to do- so that there would be a more balanced, a more equal, even, and equitable system of human liberties.”

ThinkingHumansHas BeensSaidWisdomWould BePoliticsLibertyEconomyMovementChangedEqualInstitutionsLiberationPreservesLiberalismBalancedDistributionEquitableDistribution Of Power
Book:The Later Works, 1925-1953
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“We are a people of many races, many faiths, creeds, and religions. I do not think that the men who made the Constitution forbade the establishment of a State church because they were opposed to religion. They knew that the introduction of religious differences into American life would undermine the democratic foundations of this country. What holds for adults holds even more for children, sensitive and conscious of differences. I certainly hope that the Board of Education will think very, very seriously before it introduces this division and antagonism in our public schools.”

PeopleThinkingMenChildrenMadeCountryStatesSchoolDifferencesChurchReligiousRaceAtheismHe ManConsciousAdultsConstitutionFoundationDemocraticPositive AtheismSensitiveBoardsDivisionEstablishmentIntroducingCreedsPublic SchoolIntroductionAmerican LifeAntagonismBoard Of EducationReligious Differences
Author:John Dewey
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“In general it may be said that the things which we take for granted without inquiry or reflection are just the things which determine our conscious thinking and decide our conclusions. And these habitudes which lie below the level of reflection are just those which have been formed in the constant give and take of relationship with others.”

ThinkingGivingMayHas BeensSaidLyingLevelsReflectionConsciousConstantDetermineConclusionGrantedInquiryGive And TakeRelationships With Others
Book:Democracy And Education
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“For in spite of itself any movement that thinks and acts in terms of an ‘ism becomes so involved in reaction against other ‘isms that it is unwittingly controlled by them. For it then forms its principles by reaction against them instead of by a comprehensive, constructive survey of actual needs, problems, and possibilities.”

ThinkingNeedsProblemFormTermPrinciplesMovementPossibilityInvolvedReactionsSpiteControlledConstructiveComprehensiveSurveysIsms
Book:Experience And Education
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“The only freedom that is of enduring importance is the freedom of intelligence, that is to say, freedom of observation and of judgment, exercised in behalf of purposes that are intrinsically worth while. The commonest mistake made about freedom is, I think, to identify it with freedom of movement, or, with the external or physical side of activity.”

ThinkingMadeWisdomPurposeSidesMistakeMovementActivityJudgmentImportanceEndureObservationBehalf
Book:Experience and Education, 60th Anniversary Edition
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“The intellectual content of religions has always finally adapted itself to scientific and social conditions after they have become clear.... For this reason I do not think that those who are concerned about the future of a religious attitude should trouble themselves about the conflict of science with traditional doctrines.”

ThinkingShouldReasonReligionSocialReligiousAttitudeClearTroubleConditionsConflictIntellectualConcernedDoctrineTraditionalAdaptedSocial Conditions
Book:The Later Works, 1925-1953: 1929-1930
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“Failure is instructive. The person who really thinks learns quite as much from his failures as from his successes. Genuine ignorance is profitable because it is likely to be accompanied by humility, curiosity, and open-mindedness; whereas ability to repeat catch-phrases, can't terms, familiar propositions, gives the conceit of learning and coats the mind with varnish waterproof to new ideas.”

ThinkingGivingMindPersonsIdeasSuccessTermAbilityFailingHumilityIgnoranceOptimismOvercomingPerseveranceCuriosityGenuineFamiliarPhrasesRepeatsNew IdeasCoatsPropositionsProfitableConceitOpen Mindedness
Author:John Dewey
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“Failure is instructive. The person who really thinks learns quite as much from his failures as from his successes.”

ThinkingInspirationalPersonsMotivationalSuccessLearningTeachingFailureSelf ImprovementEducationalFear Of FailureSuccess And FailureMy MistakesSuccess FailureOvercoming FailureFailure InspirationalInspirational Success FailureLearning From FailureFailure MotivationalLearn From My MistakesMistakes And LearningRepeated Failure
Book:The Later Works, 1925-1953: 1933
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“There is, I think, no point in the philosophy of progressive education which is sounder than its emphasis upon the importance of the participation of the learner in the formation of the purposes which direct his [sic] activities in the learning process, just as there is no defect in traditional education greater than its failure to secure the active cooperation of the pupil in construction of the purposes involved in his studying.”

ThinkingPhilosophyPurposeProcessStudyGreaterInvolvedActivityDirectImportanceActiveTraditionalSecureProgressiveCooperationConstructionParticipationDefectsEmphasisNo PointFormationPupilsLearning ProcessLearnersSounderTraditional Education
Author:John Dewey
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“No thought, no idea, can possibly be conveyed as an idea from one person to another. When it is told it is to the one to whom it is told another fact, not an idea. The communication may stimulate the other person to realize the question for himself and to think out a like idea, or it may smother his intellectual interest and suppress his dawning effort at thought. But what he directly gets cannot be an idea. Only by wrestling with the conditions of the problem at first hand, seeking and finding his own way out, does he think.”

ThinkingWayFirstsMayPersonsDoeIdeasFactsProblemHandsInterestRealizingEffortConditionsCommunicationFindingsIntellectualExperienceSeekingNo IdeaWrestling
Book:The Middle Works of John Dewey, 1899-1924, Volume 9: 1916, Democracy and Education
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“In laying hands upon the sacred ark of absolute permanency, in treating the forms that had been regarded as types of fixity and perfection as originating and passing away, the Origin of Species introduced a mode of thinking that in the end was bound to transform the logic of knowledge, and hence the treatment of morals, politics, and religion.”

ThinkingIdeasEndsHandsFormReligiousMoralTypePerfectionLogicAbsolutesSacredSpeciesBoundsPassingPassingsTreatmentPassing AwayArkReligion And PoliticsOrigin Of Species
Book:The Essential Dewey: Pragmatism, education, democracy
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