To free one's mind of chains is to free it of the care of what is acceptable or viewed so by society, this is when true freedom is discovered.

This text is commentary (not a quotation of Dewey) that was added to this page at [//en.wikiquote.org/w/index.php?title=John_Dewey&diff=prev&oldid=896209 05:36, 2 February 2009 (UTC)]; the text was later removed from this page but not before being misattributed to Dewey on several web sites, including in a sermon given at an Episcopal church. The statement was commenting on a quotation from Democracy and Education (1916): "The first step in freeing men from external chains was to emancipate them from the internal chains of false beliefs and ideals."