never let fear define who you are, and never let where you came from determine where you are going. - John Dewey

In a sense the mind of savage peoples is an effect, rather than a cause, of their backward institutions.

most notable distinction between living and inanimate beings is that the former maintain themselves by renewal.

"Preparation" is a treacherous idea. In a certain sense every experience should do something to prepare a person for later experiences of a deeper and more expansive quality. That is the very meaning of growth, continuity, reconstruction of experience. But it is a mistake to suppose that the mere acquisition of a certain amount of arithmetic, geography, history, etc., which is taught and studied because it may be useful at some time in the future, has this effect, and it is a mistake to suppose that acquisition of skills in reading and figuring will automatically constitute preparation for their right and effective use under conditions very unlike those in which they were acquired.