Complete adaptation to environment means death. The essential point in all response is the desire to control environment. – John Dewey
The path of least resistance and least trouble is a mental rut already made. It requires troublesome work to undertake the alternation of old beliefs. – John Dewey
Failure is instructive. The person who really thinks learns quite as much from his failures as from his successes. – John Dewey
A person who is trained to consider his actions, to undertake them deliberately, is in so far forth disciplined. Add to this ability a power to endure in an intelligently chosen course in the face of distraction, confusion, and difficulty, and you have the essence of discipline. – John Dewey