--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: A book or a letter may institute a more…" description: "\"A book or a letter may institute a more intimate association between human beings separated thousands of miles from each other than exists between dwel..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5a7/john-dewey-545_association_a-book-or-a-letter-may-institute-a-more_2598242.png" --- # A book or a letter may institute a more intimate… ![“A book or a letter may institute a more intimate association between human beings separated thousands of miles from each other than exists between dwellers under the same roof.” quote by John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5a7/john-dewey-545_association_a-book-or-a-letter-may-institute-a-more_2598242.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5a7/john-dewey-545_association_a-book-or-a-letter-may-institute-a-more_2598242.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5a7/john-dewey-545_association_a-book-or-a-letter-may-institute-a-more_2598242.png) > “A book or a letter may institute a more intimate association between human beings separated thousands of miles from each other than exists between dwellers under the same roof.” [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Communication can create deeper bonds across distance than proximity often does. **In simple terms:** Long distance can feel closer than nearby. Key Takeaway Cultivate meaningful dialogue with distant contacts. Themes communication intimacy distance relationships Mood reflective thoughtful Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - long‑distance friendships - remote work - online communities - family abroad Key Concepts social philosophy human connection Questions to Reflect On - How can technology enhance genuine intimacy? - What limits does distance impose on understanding? A Different Perspective Physical closeness may still be essential for certain emotional needs. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Association](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/association/) [Beings Separated](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/beings-separated-1920729/) [Book](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/book/) [Book Letter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/book-letter-1669956/) [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Dwellers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dwellers/) [Human beings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/human-beings/) [Humans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humans/) [Institute](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/institute/) [Intimate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/intimate/) [Intimate Association](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/intimate-association-1920730/) [Letters](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/letters/) [May](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/may/) [Miles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/miles/) [Roof](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/roof/) [Separated Thousands](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/separated-thousands-1339614/) [Thousands Miles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thousands-miles-264854/) ## Related quotes > [But now Americans, they felt a sense of peace and protection because they've been separated by so many thousands of miles of ocean. And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patty-hearst/but-now-americans-they-felt-a-sense-of-peace-and-protection-because/) [Patty Hearst](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patty-hearst/) > [You live in intimate association with bacteria, and you couldn't survive without them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bonnie-bassler/you-live-in-intimate-association-with-bacteria-and-you-couldn-t/) [Bonnie Bassler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bonnie-bassler/) > [With my first book, 'A Letter to a Young Brother,' I figured it would be my only book I was ever going to write.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hill-harper/with-my-first-book-a-letter-to-a-young-brother-i-figured-it-would-be/) [Hill Harper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hill-harper/) > [“I should have written you a letter, it was too late to make the deaths of my brothers an excuse. Since they died, I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saul-bellow/i-should-have-written-you-a-letter-it-was-too-late-to-make-the-deaths/) [Saul Bellow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saul-bellow/) > [Nature is a book, a letter, a fairy tale (in the philosophical sense) or whatever you want to call it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-georg-hamann/nature-is-a-book-a-letter-a-fairy-tale-in-the-philosophical-sense-or/) [Johann Georg Hamann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-georg-hamann/) > [“She felt just like that girl in that book with the letter A on her chest. Only her A signified Alone. She was an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victoria-kahler/she-felt-just-like-that-girl-in-that-book-with-the-letter-a-on-her/) [Victoria Kahler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victoria-kahler/) > [“Because that’s what a book is: a letter from a writer to a reader. It’s connection. Something that reaches across the divides of time…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-harrison/because-that-s-what-a-book-is-a-letter-from-a-writer-to-a-reader-it-s/) [Chris Harrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-harrison/) > [Thank god America still rewards people who miss their objectives by thousands of miles...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/thank-god-america-still-rewards-people-who-miss-their-objectives-by/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Sometimes the people who are thousands of miles away from you can make you feel better than the people who are right beside you](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/sometimes-the-people-who-are-thousands-of-miles-away-from-you-can/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Only cowards push a button from thousands of miles away, or tens of thousands of feet up, to kill people who can't possibly fight…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-maher/only-cowards-push-a-button-from-thousands-of-miles-away-or-tens-of/) [Bill Maher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-maher/) > [And when you'd finished running you'd be thousands of miles away from people who love you and your problem would still be there except…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/melina-marchetta/and-when-you-d-finished-running-you-d-be-thousands-of-miles-away-from/) [Melina Marchetta](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/melina-marchetta/) > [I walk up a dune to a beach and look out to sea, but it's 100km away. The ships lie askew in their dry…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-a-gill/i-walk-up-a-dune-to-a-beach-and-look-out-to-sea-but-it-s-100km-away/) [A. A. Gill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/a-a-gill/) > [He pulled out turned west and started driving towards the glow it was thousands of miles away, he started driving towards the glow.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-frey/he-pulled-out-turned-west-and-started-driving-towards-the-glow-it-was/) [James Frey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-frey/) > [“Thousands of miles,' I said. It's Rhosilli, USA. We're going to camp on a bit of rock that wobbles in the winds.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dylan-thomas/thousands-of-miles-i-said-it-s-rhosilli-usa-we-re-going-to-camp-on-a/) [Dylan Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dylan-thomas/) > [“Cocoon's cry to first fly, Travels thousands of miles— So much in so little life.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ritu-negi/cocoon-s-cry-to-first-fly-travels-thousands-of-miles-so-much-in-so/) [Ritu Negi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ritu-negi/) ## More by John Dewey > [“The deepest urge in human nature is the desire to be important.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/the-deepest-urge-in-human-nature-is-the-desire-to-be-important/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) > [“Empirically, things are poignant, tragic, beautiful, humorous, settled, disturbed, comfortable, annoying, barren, harsh, consoling, splendid, fearful; are such immediately and in their own right…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/empirically-things-are-poignant-tragic-beautiful-humorous-settled/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) > [A good aim surveys the present state of experience of pupils, and forming a tentative plan of treatment, keeps the plan constantly in view…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/a-good-aim-surveys-the-present-state-of-experience-of-pupils-and/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) > [Experiences in order to be educative must lead out into an expanding world of subject matter, a subject matter of facts or information and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/experiences-in-order-to-be-educative-must-lead-out-into-an-expanding/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) > [A tribe, let us say, is warlike. The successes for which it strives, the achievements upon which it sets store, are connected with fighting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/a-tribe-let-us-say-is-warlike-the-successes-for-which-it-strives-the/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) > [The phrase "think for one's self" is a pleonasm. Unless one does it for one's self, it isn't thinking.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/the-phrase-think-for-one-s-self-is-a-pleonasm-unless-one-does-it-for/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) > [Doctrine that eliminates or even obscures the function of choice of values and enlistment of desires and emotions in behalf of those chosen weakens…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/doctrine-that-eliminates-or-even-obscures-the-function-of-choice-of/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) > [There is no such thing as educational value in the abstract. The notion that some subjects and methods and that acquaintance with certain facts…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/there-is-no-such-thing-as-educational-value-in-the-abstract-the/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) > [Men live in a community in virtue of the things which they have in common; and communication is the way in which they come…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/men-live-in-a-community-in-virtue-of-the-things-which-they-have-in/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) > [We can have facts without thinking but we cannot have thinking without facts.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/we-can-have-facts-without-thinking-but-we-cannot-have-thinking/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) > [But progress in knowledge has made us aware of the superficiality of Plato's lumping of individuals and their original powers into a few sharply…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/but-progress-in-knowledge-has-made-us-aware-of-the-superficiality-of/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) > [Even the alleged benefits of war, so far as more than alleged, spring from the fact that conflict of peoples at least enforces intercourse…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/even-the-alleged-benefits-of-war-so-far-as-more-than-alleged-spring/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) > [“When the organization called soul is free, moving and operative, initial as well as terminal, it is spirit. Qualities are both static, substantial, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/when-the-organization-called-soul-is-free-moving-and-operative/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) > [Since in reality there is nothing to which growth is relative save more growth, there is nothing to which education is subordinate save more…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/since-in-reality-there-is-nothing-to-which-growth-is-relative-save/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) > [Creative thinking will improve as we relate the new fact to the old and all facts to each other.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/creative-thinking-will-improve-as-we-relate-the-new-fact-to-the-old/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) [Explore all 486 John Dewey quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) ## More Association quotes > [If you are poor, shun association with him who measures men with the yardstick of riches.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/khalil-gibran/if-you-are-poor-shun-association-with-him-who-measures-men-with-the/) [Khalil Gibran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/khalil-gibran/) > [So few men are really worth knowing, that it seems a shameful waste to let an anthropoid prejudice stand in the way of free…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/so-few-men-are-really-worth-knowing-that-it-seems-a-shameful-waste-to/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) > [For rich children, it'd be very easy and convenient never to take any steps to build an identity outside of your association with your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jamie-johnson/for-rich-children-it-d-be-very-easy-and-convenient-never-to-take-any/) [Jamie Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jamie-johnson/) > [I am a member of that small, little group that covers - I'm a member of the White House correspondents association. I go to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-trump/i-am-a-member-of-that-small-little-group-that-covers-i-m-a-member-of/) [Donald Trump](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-trump/) > [Most of the more celebrated names among African-American authors, poets, and artists are known to the world because of their association with specific cultural…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aberjhani/most-of-the-more-celebrated-names-among-african-american-authors/) [Aberjhani](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aberjhani/) > [While opponents label (Howard) Dean a throwback liberal, The New York Times recently noted that as governor, Dean cut income taxes, reformed welfare and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jon-stewart/while-opponents-label-howard-dean-a-throwback-liberal-the-new-york/) [Jon Stewart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jon-stewart/) > [Anarchism is a definite intellectual current in the life of our times, whose adherents advocate the abolition of economic monopolies and of all political…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rudolf-rocker/anarchism-is-a-definite-intellectual-current-in-the-life-of-our-times/) [Rudolf Rocker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rudolf-rocker/) > [The feedback that I get from my association with Gomez is heartwarming. It is very difficult for me to take anything but a positive…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-astin/the-feedback-that-i-get-from-my-association-with-gomez-is/) [John Astin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-astin/) > [Public and private funds have been thrown around like confetti at a country fair, to close up and destroy clinics, hospitals, and scientific research…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benedict-fitzgerald/public-and-private-funds-have-been-thrown-around-like-confetti-at-a/) [Benedict Fitzgerald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benedict-fitzgerald/) > [ \[T\]here are, at bottom, basically two ways to order social affairs, Coercively, through the mechanisms of the state - what we can call political… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ed-crane/t-here-are-at-bottom-basically-two-ways-to-order-social-affairs/) [Ed Crane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ed-crane/) > [Whatever withdraws us from the power of our senses; whatever makes the past, the distant, or the future, predominate over the present, advances us…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/whatever-withdraws-us-from-the-power-of-our-senses-whatever-makes-the/) [Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/) > [The Stroke Association has produced leaflets that set out clearly the health risks associated with stroke that African-Caribbean people face.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/linford-christie/the-stroke-association-has-produced-leaflets-that-set-out-clearly-the/) [Linford Christie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/linford-christie/) > [The regular division of the plane into congruent figures evoking an association in the observer with a familiar natural object is one of these…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/m-c-escher/the-regular-division-of-the-plane-into-congruent-figures-evoking-an/) [M. 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