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Who really said it

Every great advance in science has issued from a new audacity of imagination

Written by John Dewey 1859–1952 · American philosopher and educator
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John Dewey wrote these words in chapter XI of The Quest for Certainty (1929). The primary transcription and the sourced Wikiquote entry agree on the wording.

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

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“Every great advance in science has issued from a new audacity of imagination” — John Dewey

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Provenance

The source

Work
The Quest for Certainty
Publication
1929
Location
chapter XI of The Quest for Certainty (1929)

Every great advance in science has issued from a new audacity of imagination.

Literal words in the fetched source; line breaks have been joined.

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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.

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Context

Why it mattered

Chapter XI connects imaginative hypotheses with experimental inquiry and the expansion of knowledge.

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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.
1929 edition catalogueopenlibrary.org

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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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The primary source (Chicago)

John Dewey. The Quest for Certainty. 1929. Chapter XI.

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Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘Every great advance in science has issued from a new audacity of imagination’?” Last verified 9 Nov 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/every-great-advance-in-science-has-issued-from-a-new/

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