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Who really said it

To find out what one is fitted to do and to secure an opportunity to do it is the key to happiness

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

John Dewey wrote these words in chapter XXIII of Democracy and Education (1916). 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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“To find out what one is fitted to do and to secure an opportunity to do it is the key to happiness” — John Dewey

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Provenance

The source

Work
Democracy and Education
Publication
1916
Location
chapter XXIII of Democracy and Education (1916)

To find out what one is fitted to do and to secure an opportunity to do it is the key to happiness.

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

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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

Chapter XXIII, Vocational Aspects of Education, treats vocation as meaningful activity rather than narrow job training.

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Filed under

More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.

Purpose Happiness Work

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Documented sourcewww.gutenberg.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.

For writers & researchers

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The primary source (Chicago)

John Dewey. Democracy and Education. 1916. Chapter XXIII, “Vocational Aspects of Education.”

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Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘To find out what one is fitted to do and to secure an opportunity to do it is the key to happiness’?” Last verified 9 Nov 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/to-find-out-what-one-is-fitted-to-do-and-to-secure-an/

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