Q0081

John Dewey

A verified English rendering from the curated archive.

English

Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.
Thinker John Dewey
School Pragmatism
Source Democracy and Education
Theme Education
Another quotation More from this thinker

Source context

This English passage is associated with Democracy and Education, within the tradition of Pragmatism. The wording below is a verified rendering prepared for careful reading rather than a claim of unique translation authority.

A short reading

Read in the register of education, the sentence asks the reader to test an assumption rather than to collect a slogan. In John Dewey's wider work, similar claims are usually offered as prompts for judgment: what would have to be true for the sentence to hold, and what would follow if it did?

How to cite this quotation

APA: John Dewey. (n.d.). Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself. In Philosophy Blind Box. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0081

MLA: John Dewey. “Education is not preparation for life; education is….” Philosophy Blind Box, https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0081.

Chicago: John Dewey. “Education is not preparation for life; education is….” Philosophy Blind Box. Accessed 2026. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0081.

Same thinker

More from John Dewey

  1. Experience is not a veil that shuts man off from nature; it is a means of penetrating continually further into the heart of nature.
  2. The quest for certainty…has always been a quest for a peace that is assured.
  3. The quest for certainty…is a quest for a peace which is assured.

All quotations by John Dewey

Same theme

More on education

  1. The mind is not a vessel that needs filling, but wood that needs kindling.
  2. Picture human beings as if living in an underground, cave-like dwelling.
  3. Better a well-made head than a well-filled head.
  4. Everything is good as it leaves the hands of the Author of things; everything degenerates in the hands of man.
  5. In the Garden of Eden Adam saw the animals before he named them: in the traditional system, children named the animals before they saw them.

Browse the education theme