--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It requires troublesome work to undertake…" description: "\"It requires troublesome work to undertake the alteration of old beliefs.\" — John Dewey" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/afb/john-dewey-545_alterations_it-requires-troublesome-work-to-undertak_2222695.png" --- # It requires troublesome work to undertake the alteration… ![“It requires troublesome work to undertake the alteration of old beliefs.” quote by John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/afb/john-dewey-545_alterations_it-requires-troublesome-work-to-undertak_2222695.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/afb/john-dewey-545_alterations_it-requires-troublesome-work-to-undertak_2222695.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/afb/john-dewey-545_alterations_it-requires-troublesome-work-to-undertak_2222695.png) > “It requires troublesome work to undertake the alteration of old beliefs.” [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. Changing deep-seated beliefs is difficult and requires effort. **In simple terms:** Changing old beliefs is hard work. Key Takeaway Commit to thoughtful reflection. Themes education change beliefs Mood thoughtful challenging Type philosophical educational When to use this quote - personal growth - organizational reform - cultural shifts Key Concepts cognitive dissonance critical thinking Questions to Reflect On - What beliefs limit you? - How can you approach change constructively? A Different Perspective Resistance may be strong. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Belief](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/belief/) [Faith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/faith/) ## Related quotes > [The path of least resistance and least trouble is a mental rut already made. It requires troublesome work to undertake the alternation of old…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/the-path-of-least-resistance-and-least-trouble-is-a-mental-rut/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) > [Without troublesome work, no one can have any concrete, full idea of what pure mathematical research is like or of the profusion of insights…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-husserl/without-troublesome-work-no-one-can-have-any-concrete-full-idea-of/) [Edmund Husserl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-husserl/) > [Man is not logical and his intellectual history is a record of mental reserves and compromises. He hangs on to what he can in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/man-is-not-logical-and-his-intellectual-history-is-a-record-of-mental/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) > [“So much we once coveted. So much That would have saved us, but lived, Instead, its own quick span, returning To uselessness with the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tracy-k-smith/so-much-we-once-coveted-so-much-that-would-have-saved-us-but-lived/) [Tracy K. Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tracy-k-smith/) > [It is necessary to go back to our age old beliefs to save our ethos which are on the decline due to rapid extinction…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mak-786/it-is-necessary-to-go-back-to-our-age-old-beliefs-to-save-our-ethos/) Mak\_786 > [You can choose to acknowledge that some of your old beliefs about God and about Life are no longer working.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neale-donald-walsch/you-can-choose-to-acknowledge-that-some-of-your-old-beliefs-about-god/) [Neale Donald Walsch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neale-donald-walsch/) > [If a thousand old beliefs were ruined in our march to truth we must still march on.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stopford-brooke/if-a-thousand-old-beliefs-were-ruined-in-our-march-to-truth-we-must/) Stopford Brooke > [The first thing we need to do is realize that some of our old beliefs are dysfunctional and no longer work, if indeed they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ricky-ray/the-first-thing-we-need-to-do-is-realize-that-some-of-our-old-beliefs/) [Ricky Ray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ricky-ray/) > [The old beliefs, of course, and the rational approach, are everywhere reinforced, and so it does have a great weight. The magical approach has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-roberts/the-old-beliefs-of-course-and-the-rational-approach-are-everywhere/) [Jane Roberts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-roberts/) > [“Some say it’s no coincidence that the question mark is an inverted plow, breaking up the hard soil of old beliefs and preparing for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saul-d-alinsky/some-say-it-s-no-coincidence-that-the-question-mark-is-an-inverted/) [Saul D. Alinsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saul-d-alinsky/) > [“Religious beliefs are culture bound…land overwhelmed by poverty, overcrowding, starvation, disease, class oppression and lack of any hope for a better future were what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/irvin-d-yalom/religious-beliefs-are-culture-bound-land-overwhelmed-by-poverty/) [Irvin D. Yalom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/irvin-d-yalom/) > [“Old beliefs do not lead you to new cheese”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/spencer-johnson/old-beliefs-do-not-lead-you-to-new-cheese/) [Spencer Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/spencer-johnson/) > [I just have a sense that, you know, I'm curious about what is religion about, you know? Why do some of us still engage…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elaine-pagels/i-just-have-a-sense-that-you-know-i-m-curious-about-what-is-religion/) [Elaine Pagels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elaine-pagels/) > [But I almost think we are all of us ghosts. It is not only what we have inherited from our father and mother that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henrik-ibsen/but-i-almost-think-we-are-all-of-us-ghosts-it-is-not-only-what-we/) [Henrik Ibsen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henrik-ibsen/) > [In place of the old beliefs of a civilization based on godliness, judgment and historical loyalty, young people are given the new beliefs of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roger-scruton/in-place-of-the-old-beliefs-of-a-civilization-based-on-godliness/) [Roger Scruton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roger-scruton/) ## 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. 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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 Alterations quotes > [“When you alter yourself, the alterations become the truth...”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/when-you-alter-yourself-the-alterations-become-the-truth/) [Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) > [Death's not a separation or alteration or parting; it's just a one-handled door.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stevie-smith/death-s-not-a-separation-or-alteration-or-parting-it-s-just-a-one/) [Stevie Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stevie-smith/) > [There are two processes which we adopt consciously or unconsciously when we try to prophesy. We can seek a period in the past whose…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/winston-churchill/there-are-two-processes-which-we-adopt-consciously-or-unconsciously/) [Winston Churchill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/winston-churchill/) > [The present Constitution, with a few alterations of a trifling nature, is just as good as we want; and if it is sustained on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brigham-young/the-present-constitution-with-a-few-alterations-of-a-trifling-nature/) [Brigham Young](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brigham-young/) > [My being consists of matter and form, that is, of soul and body; annihilation will reach neither of them, for they were never produced…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcus-aurelius/my-being-consists-of-matter-and-form-that-is-of-soul-and-body/) [Marcus Aurelius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcus-aurelius/) > [Every story is flawed, every story is subject to change. Even after it is set down to print, between covers of a book, a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-richmond/every-story-is-flawed-every-story-is-subject-to-change-even-after-it/) [Michelle Richmond](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-richmond/) > [Human beings were not well served by permanence or stasis. Obviously, if individuals were progressing, they were undergoing a series of presumably desirable alterations,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-robbins/human-beings-were-not-well-served-by-permanence-or-stasis-obviously/) [Tom Robbins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-robbins/) > [Everything that makes diversity of kinds, of species, differences, properties... everything that consists in generation, decay, alteration and change is not an entity, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/giordano-bruno/everything-that-makes-diversity-of-kinds-of-species-differences/) [Giordano Bruno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/giordano-bruno/) > [One of the pleasures of reading is seeing this alteration on the pages, and the way, by reading it, you have made the book…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-theroux/one-of-the-pleasures-of-reading-is-seeing-this-alteration-on-the/) [Paul Theroux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-theroux/) > [Whether it is seen in personal terms or trans-personal terms, whether it is Heaven or Nirvana or Happy Hunting Ground or the Garden of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-smith/whether-it-is-seen-in-personal-terms-or-trans-personal-terms-whether/) [John Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-smith/) > [For a woman ... to explore and express the fullness of her sexuality, her ambitions, her emotional and intellectual capacities, her social duties, her…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louise-j-kaplan/for-a-woman-to-explore-and-express-the-fullness-of-her-sexuality-her/) [Louise J. Kaplan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louise-j-kaplan/) > [When it happens that a person has to give up a sexual object, there quite often ensues an alteration of his ego which can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sigmund-freud/when-it-happens-that-a-person-has-to-give-up-a-sexual-object-there/) [Sigmund Freud](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sigmund-freud/) > [Reagan took an approach to the Cold War dramatically different from any other US President. To wit, he thought we should win. This was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ann-coulter/reagan-took-an-approach-to-the-cold-war-dramatically-different-from/) [Ann Coulter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ann-coulter/) > [Contentment is never the outcome of fulfillment, of achievement, or of the possession of things; it is not born of action or inaction. It…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jiddu-krishnamurti/contentment-is-never-the-outcome-of-fulfillment-of-achievement-or-of/) [Jiddu Krishnamurti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jiddu-krishnamurti/) > [Let me not to the marriage of true minds Admit impediments: love is not love Which alters when it alteration finds.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/let-me-not-to-the-marriage-of-true-minds-admit-impediments-love-is-2/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) Browse all 94 Alterations quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "It requires troublesome work to undertake the alteration of old beliefs.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "John Dewey" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/it-requires-troublesome-work-to-undertake-the-alteration-of-old/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Alterations" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/it-requires-troublesome-work-to-undertake-the-alteration-of-old/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/afb/john-dewey-545_alterations_it-requires-troublesome-work-to-undertak_2222695.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/afb/john-dewey-545_alterations_it-requires-troublesome-work-to-undertak_2222695.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/afb/john-dewey-545_alterations_it-requires-troublesome-work-to-undertak_2222695.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“It requires troublesome work to undertake the alteration of old beliefs.” — John Dewey", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "John Dewey", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "It requires troublesome work to undertake...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/it-requires-troublesome-work-to-undertake-the-alteration-of-old/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/it-requires-troublesome-work-to-undertake-the-alteration-of-old/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```