John Dewey Quotes

One creates oneself.

In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.

Everybody eventually discovers that they are an individual with the power to affect their own lives and make it better or not.

What does it mean to be an individual? What does it mean to flourish?

I am what time, circumstance, history, have made of me, certainly, but I am also, much more than that. So are we all.

I like people that define their own values. I am much more interested in somebody who has their own definition of what they value, their own definition of what success is, their own definition of what love is.

I want the subject to be in control. Because they will give me something I couldn't possibly know about them.

The knowledge that we are responsible for living the life we have is our most powerful tool.

On some level, we as human beings can be who we want to be.

I make me. At 18, I decided I wasn't going to have an unconstructed self ever. I was going to be the composer, the designer, the architect of me. It's been really fun.

Freedom is man's capacity to take a hand in his own development. It is our capacity to mold ourselves.

I am Roe.

The enormous potentiality for nature’s bounty and men’s capacity to differentiate their experience can become valued by the individual himself so that he will not be tempted and coerced into adjustment

Freedom is the possibility of development, of enhancement of one's life - or the possibility of withdrawing, shutting oneself up, denying and stultifying one's growth.

Most actions derive not from your own initiative but from your family circumstances, your education, your calling, and so on. You must therefore give up a little time to performing actions which derive from yourself alone. They need not be important; quite insignificant actions fulfill the same purpose.

I'm very interested in how we take ownership of our own stories and our own lives.

Every choice leads you somewhere, but it might not be where you truly want to be if the decision is based on someone else. It could lead to regrets and what-ifs, but that doesn't mean you wouldn't still have valuable experiences.

Every single part of our persona, no matter how long we've rocked it, is a choice we make every day.

Changing your nature is the hardest thing to do. But I discovered that you can be who you choose to be.

It takes half your life before you discover life is a do-it-yourself project.

It may be that the most interesting American struggle is the struggle to set oneself free from the limits one is born to, and then to learn something of the value of those limits.

I am what is mine. Personality is the original personal property.

The final forming of a person's character lies in their own hands.

In the end, I want to be able to say, 'My life was what I made it.'

We must make the choices that enable us to fulfill the deepest capacities of our real selves.