Liberty is not just an idea, an abstract principle. It is power, effective power to do specific things. There is no such thing as liberty in general; liberty, so to speak, at large.
Interpretation
Liberty is a practical force, not merely a theoretical concept; it must be understood in terms of its application.
John Dewey emphasizes that liberty is not merely an abstract idea, but a practical power that allows individuals to act and achieve specific outcomes. By stating that there is no such thing as liberty in general, he suggests that true freedom must be contextualized within concrete circumstances and the ability to effectuate change in the world.
In practice
In a speech on civil rights, one might use this quote to emphasize the importance of practical freedom in achieving equality.
Every teacher should realize he is a social servant set apart for the maintenance of the proper social order and the securing of the right social growth. In this way, the teacher always is the prophet of the true God and the usherer-in of the true Kingdom of God.
Democracy has to be born anew every generation, and education is its midwife.
It science involves an intelligent and persistent endeavor to revise current beliefs so as to weed out what is erroneous, to add to their accuracy, and, above all, to give them such shape that the dependencies of the various facts upon one another may be as obvious as possible.
For in spite of itself any movement that thinks and acts in terms of an ‘ism becomes so involved in reaction against other ‘isms that it is unwittingly controlled by them. For it then forms its principles by reaction against them instead of by a comprehensive, constructive survey of actual needs, problems, and possibilities.
Any genuine teaching will result, if successful, in someone's knowing how to bring about a better condition of things than existed earlier.
The reactionaries are in possession of force, in not only the army and police, but in the press and the schools
A 'fair' fight between non-equals is not fair, and being blind to power is an implicit endorsement of the powerful.
Cut off from his religious, metaphysical and transcendental roots, man is lost; all his actions become senseless, absurd, useless.
Yes, I know, it's not the truth, but in a great history little truths can be altered so that the greater truth emerges.
American individualism, much celebrated and cherished, has developed without its essential corrective, which is belonging.
Moderation has been called a virtue to limit the ambition of great men, and to console undistinguished people for their want of fortune and their lack of merit.
We are anxious because we do not know what roles to pursue, what principles for action to believe in. Our individual anxiety, somewhat like that of the nation, is a basic confusion and bewilderment about where we are going.
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