Being human is itself difficult, and therefore all kinds of settlements (except dream cities) have problems. Big cities have difficulties in abundance, because they have people in abundance.
Jane JacobsRead
It may be that we have become so feckless as a people that we no longer care how things do work, but only what kind of quick, easy outer impression they give. If so, there is little hope for our cities or probably for much else in our society. But I do not think this is so.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote critiques societal values, emphasizing a concern for superficial appearances over genuine functionality.
Jane Jacobs warns against a societal trend where the focus is on superficial impressions rather than the true workings of our environments. She expresses concern that such attitudes, if pervasive, could lead to the decline of our cities and society at large; however, she remains optimistic that this is not the case and that people still value substance over style.
Themes
SocietySuperficialityValuesCitiesFunctionality
In practice
Example use cases
In a debate about urban planning, this quote could be used to emphasize the importance of genuine community engagement over cosmetic changes.
More from Jane Jacobs
All quotes →Streets and their sidewalks-the main public places of a city-are its most vital organs.
Jane JacobsRead
(The psuedoscience of planning seems almost neurotic in its determination to imitate empiric failure and ignore empiric success.)
Jane JacobsRead
Whenever and wherever societies have flourished and prospered rather than stagnated and decayed, creative and workable cities have been at the core of the phenomenon. Decaying cities, declining economies, and mounting social troubles travel together. The combination is not coincidental.
Jane JacobsRead
This is what a city is, bits and pieces that supplement each other and support each other.
Jane JacobsRead
This is something everyone knows: A well-used city street is apt to be a safe street. A deserted city street is apt to be unsafe.
Jane JacobsRead
Similar quotes
Religion is sort of like a lift in your shoes. If it makes you feel better, fine. Just don't ask me to wear your shoes.
George CarlinRead
A man loves the meat in his youth that he cannot endure in his age.
William ShakespeareRead
Conservatives reveal themselves through their care for ordinary human things, and their recognition of the fragility of decency and the need to protect it.
Roger ScrutonRead
Abolish slavery tomorrow, and not a sentence or syllable of the Constitution need be altered. It was purposely so framed as to give no claim, no sanction to the claim, of property in man. If in its origin slavery had any relation to the government, it was only as the scaffolding to the magnificent structure, to be removed as soon as the building was completed.
Frederick DouglassRead
By deafening ourselves to the emotional consequences of violence we have become confused by its relationship to sex. We have come to believe that violence equals aggression, and we have come to base our model of sexuality on our model of violence... converting an act of aggression into an act of consensual sexuality.
Derrick JensenRead
God made everything out of nothing. But the nothingness shows through.
Paul ValeryRead