Not only are personal desire and belief functions of habit and custom, but the objective conditions which provide the resources and tools of action, together with its limitations, obstructions and traps, are precipitates of the past, perpetuating, willy-nilly, its hold and power.
This quote reflects Dewey's view on how personal beliefs and societal conditions are shaped by historical context.
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The problem of securing diffused and seminal intelligence can be solved only in the degree in which local communal life becomes a reality.
Signs and symbols, language, are the means of communication by which a fraternally shared experience is ushered in and sustained.
But the wingèd words of conversation in immediate intercourse have a vital import lacking in the fixed and frozen words of written speech.
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