--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The intimation never wholly deserts us…" description: "\"The intimation never wholly deserts us that there is, in the unformed activities of childhood and youth, the possibilities of a better life for the com..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cb9/john-dewey-545_abiding_the-intimation-never-wholly-deserts-us-t_1817364.jpg" --- # The intimation never wholly deserts us that there is, in… ![“The intimation never wholly deserts us that there is, in the unformed activities of childhood and youth, the possibilities of a better life for the community as well as for individuals here and there. This dim sense is the ground of our abiding idealization of childhood.” quote by John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cb9/john-dewey-545_abiding_the-intimation-never-wholly-deserts-us-t_1817364.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cb9/john-dewey-545_abiding_the-intimation-never-wholly-deserts-us-t_1817364.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cb9/john-dewey-545_abiding_the-intimation-never-wholly-deserts-us-t_1817364.jpg) > “The intimation never wholly deserts us that there is, in the unformed activities of childhood and youth, the possibilities of a better life for the community as well as for individuals here and there. This dim sense is the ground of our abiding idealization of childhood.” [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. The quote suggests that childhood experiences hold the promise of improving both society and individuals, forming our ideal view of youth. **In simple terms:** Childhood holds potential for a better future. Key Takeaway Recognize and nurture youthful potential. Themes education optimism community development potential Mood reflective hopeful Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - school curricula - youth programs - community planning - family upbringing - policy making Key Concepts Human development social idealism Questions to Reflect On - How can we translate youthful potential into concrete community benefits? - What barriers prevent childhood experiences from shaping societal ideals? A Different Perspective Idealizing childhood may overlook real challenges faced by children. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Abiding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/abiding/) [Abiding Idealization](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/abiding-idealization-2165650/) [Activity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/activity/) [Better life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/better-life/) [Child](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/child/) [Childhood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/childhood/) [Childhood Youth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/childhood-youth-789101/) [Children](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/children/) [Community](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/community/) [Desert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/desert/) [Here and there](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/here-and-there/) [Idealization Childhood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/idealization-childhood-2165649/) [Individual](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/individual/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Possibility](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/possibility/) [Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wells/) [Youth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/youth/) [Youth Possibilities](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/youth-possibilities-2165651/) ## Related quotes > [“I spent my childhood and youth on the outskirts of the Alps, in a region that was largely spared the immediate effects of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-g-sebald-2/i-spent-my-childhood-and-youth-on-the-outskirts-of-the-alps-in-a/) [W.G. Sebald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-g-sebald-2/) > [When people look back at their childhood or youth, their wistfulness comes from the memory, not of what their lives had been in those…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/when-people-look-back-at-their-childhood-or-youth-their-wistfulness/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [My half-suppressed Canadian years, my whole childhood and youth, rose like a corpse from the bottom of the sea to confront me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ross-macdonald/my-half-suppressed-canadian-years-my-whole-childhood-and-youth-rose/) [Ross MacDonald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ross-macdonald/) > [“Forgetting the injustices and seeming injustices which one suffered from one’s parents during childhood and youth must be the major part of any maturing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-taylor/forgetting-the-injustices-and-seeming-injustices-which-one-suffered-2/) [Peter Taylor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-taylor/) > [Childhood and youth are ends in themselves, not stages.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/childhood-and-youth-are-ends-in-themselves-not-stages/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [Swimming, trekking, outdoor sports activities have been a part of life right from childhood through youth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pooja-bedi/swimming-trekking-outdoor-sports-activities-have-been-a-part-of-life/) [Pooja Bedi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pooja-bedi/) > [“Forgetting the injustices and seeming injustices which one suffered from one's parents during childhood and youth must be the major part of any maturing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-taylor/forgetting-the-injustices-and-seeming-injustices-which-one-suffered/) [Peter Taylor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-taylor/) > [War defined my entire childhood and youth and most of my adulthood too - and in the US, it continues to do so.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ru-freeman/war-defined-my-entire-childhood-and-youth-and-most-of-my-adulthood/) [Ru Freeman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ru-freeman/) > [God has a sense of humor though and he must see funny things in us. 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And here and there the unbodied spirit flies.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ovid/thus-all-things-altered-nothing-dies-and-here-and-there-the-unbodied/) [Ovid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ovid/) > [I have read and re-read the Arusha Declaration and found nothing wrong with it except perhaps replacing a few commas here and there... it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julius-nyerere/i-have-read-and-re-read-the-arusha-declaration-and-found-nothing/) [Julius Nyerere](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julius-nyerere/) > [Buttercups and daisies, Oh, the pretty flowers; Coming ere the spring time, To tell of sunny hours. 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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 Abiding quotes > [If there is an abiding theme in 'The Pursuit of Happiness,' it is the idea that you come into the world already shaped by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-kennedy/if-there-is-an-abiding-theme-in-the-pursuit-of-happiness-it-is-the/) [Douglas Kennedy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-kennedy/) > [Why is it, my shadow-striding friend, that we don't fear dreams? 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I think it's important for us to recognize that we've got a tradition of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barack-obama/i-think-we-have-two-conflicting-traditions-in-this-country-i-think-it/) [Barack Obama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barack-obama/) > [A wicked mortal is not the idea of God. He is little else than the expression of error. 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The fact that I have more time to dream my dreams and take my ease is no…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/luci-swindoll/i-sometimes-forget-that-life-is-fragile-the-fact-that-i-have-more/) [Luci Swindoll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/luci-swindoll/) [Browse all 387 Abiding quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/abiding/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The intimation never wholly deserts us that there is, in the unformed activities of childhood and youth, the possibilities of a better life for the community as well as for individuals here and there. 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