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Who really said it

Democracy has to be born anew every generation, and education is its midwife

Written by John Dewey 1859–1952 · American philosopher and educator
Verified Free to reuse

John Dewey wrote these words in the 1916 essay, reprinted in the fetched 1917 vocational-education collection. The collection’s OCR misreads one letter in “born”; the sourced Wikiquote transcription supplies the readable form.

Last verified 9 Nov 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?

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“Democracy has to be born anew every generation, and education is its midwife” — John Dewey

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Evoking the world of John Dewey — American philosopher and educator. Theme: "Democracy has to be born anew every generation, and education is its midwife". Atmospheric and restrained, cinematic directional light, a muted period-appropriate palette, fine grain and texture. Compose with generous empty space for the quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

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Provenance

The source

Work
The Need of an Industrial Education in an Industrial Democracy
Publication
1916
Location
the 1916 essay, reprinted in the fetched 1917 vocational-education collection

anew every generation, and education is its midwife.

Literal wording follows the sourced Wikiquote transcription; the primary reprint’s OCR renders “born” as “bom.”

Read the documented source

How we verified this

Public domain

This exact original English wording is documented in the pre-1931 work identified above. It is public domain in the United States; this assessment concerns the historical text, not a website’s additional editorial material.

Rights status is our research, not legal advice — and copyright varies by country and edition. For commercial or published use, confirm with the rightsholder. See terms.

Context

Why it mattered

The essay argues that education must renew equal opportunity and shared democratic purpose.

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Knowledge Justice Change

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Documented sourcearchive.org

Primary text or film-dialogue documentation supporting the quoted wording and identified work.
Specialist sourced collectionen.wikiquote.org

Sourced quotation entry identifying the author and the containing work.

The author

About John Dewey

John Dewey

1859–1952 · American philosopher and educator

American philosopher and educator whose work joined democratic life, inquiry and education.

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Cite this

The primary source (Chicago)

John Dewey. The Need of an Industrial Education in an Industrial Democracy. 1916. Originally in Manual Training and Vocational Education 17 (February 1916): 409–414; fetched reprint in Vocational Education (1917).

This verification page

Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘Democracy has to be born anew every generation, and education is its midwife’?” Last verified 9 Nov 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/democracy-has-to-be-born-anew-every-generation-and/

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