“Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.”
Tenzin Gyatso (1935) spiritual leader of Tibet
“The self is not something ready-made, but something in continuous formation through choice of action.”
Last update Feb. 5, 2026. History
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Do you have more details about the quote "The self is not something ready-made, but something in continuous formation through choice of action." by John Dewey?
John Dewey62
American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer 1859–1952Related quotes
Michael Halliday (1925–2018) Australian linguist
Michael Halliday (1985) cited in: Xueyan Yang (2010) Modelling Text As Process. p. 20.
1970s and later
“Honor is self-esteem made visible in action.”
Ayn Rand (1905–1982) Russian-American novelist and philosopher
The Ayn Rand Letter (1971–1976)
Iggy Pop (1947) American rock singer-songwriter, musician, and actor
On his relations with David Bowie
Rolling Stone interview (2003)
Context: I used to catch myself — maybe we'd be having dinner with the future king of Spain, and I'd be grumpy, like, "What are we doing here, hanging out with these swells?" And then, right away, I'd realize, "Dude, you're jealous." It got very hard on a certain level. He was a person of affairs, in the worldly sense, with a lot of choices laid out on his smorgasbord. I had no choices whatsoever. I was a pariah. But a very fortunate one, in that he saw something worthwhile in me, and he made me two terrific records. He gave me the break I needed to continue living life. He is my benefactor.
Alejandro Jodorowsky (1929) Filmmaker and comics writer
Anarchy and Alchemy: the Films of Alejandro Jodorowsky by Ben Cobb (2007) p. 115
“We must never forget that it is through our actions, words, and thoughts that we have a choice.”
Sogyal Rinpoche (1947–2019) Tibetan Dzogchen lama of the Nyingma tradition
Steve Maraboli (1975)
Source: Life, the Truth, and Being Free (2010), p. 38