---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Brooklyn Heights itself is a window on…"
description: "\"Brooklyn Heights itself is a window on the port. Here, where the perspective is fixed by the towers of Manhattan and the hills of New Jersey and Staten..."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ea3/alfred-kazin-24942_brooklyn_brooklyn-heights-itself-is-a-window-on-t_2849004.jpg"
---

#  Brooklyn Heights itself is a window on the port. Here…

![“Brooklyn Heights itself is a window on the port. Here, where the perspective is fixed by the towers of Manhattan and the hills of New Jersey and Staten Island, the channels running between seem fingers of the world ocean. Here one can easily embrace the suggestion, which Whitman felt so easily…” quote by Alfred Kazin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ea3/alfred-kazin-24942_brooklyn_brooklyn-heights-itself-is-a-window-on-t_2849004.jpg)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ea3/alfred-kazin-24942_brooklyn_brooklyn-heights-itself-is-a-window-on-t_2849004.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ea3/alfred-kazin-24942_brooklyn_brooklyn-heights-itself-is-a-window-on-t_2849004.jpg)

> “Brooklyn Heights itself is a window on the port. Here, where the perspective is fixed by the towers of Manhattan and the hills of New Jersey and Staten Island, the channels running between seem fingers of the world ocean. Here one can easily embrace the suggestion, which Whitman felt so easily, that the whole American world opens out from here, north and west.”

[Alfred Kazin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-kazin/)

## About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

Brooklyn offers a panoramic view that connects diverse landscapes, symbolizing the expansive possibilities of America.

**In simple terms:** Brooklyn shows America's wide horizons.

Key Takeaway

Explore diverse perspectives in your surroundings.

Themes

place perspective expansion

Mood

poetic observational

Type

travel literary

When to use this quote

- travel
- writing
- photography
- urban planning

Key Concepts

urban studies geography

Questions to Reflect On

- How does your environment shape your worldview?
- What horizons are you seeking?

A Different Perspective

Physical views may not reflect deeper realities.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

[American World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/american-world-1202857/) [Brooklyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/brooklyn/) [Brooklyn Heights](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/brooklyn-heights-2132281/) [Embrace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/embrace/) [Felt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/felt/) [Fingers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fingers/) [Fixed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fixed/) [Height](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/height/) [Hills](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hills/) [Islands](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/islands/) [Jersey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/jersey/) [Manhattan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/manhattan/) [New jersey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/new-jersey/) [New york](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/new-york/) [Ocean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ocean/) [Perspective](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/perspective/) [Port](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/port/) [Port Perspective](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/port-perspective-3780111/) [Running](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/running/) [Seems](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/seems/) [Suggestion Whitman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/suggestion-whitman-3780110/) [Suggestions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/suggestions/) [Towers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/towers/) [West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/west/) [Whitman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/whitman/) [Whole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/whole/) [Window](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/window/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/) [York](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/york/)

## Related quotes

> [I like to bike ride a lot just around where I live in Brooklyn Heights.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marky-ramone/i-like-to-bike-ride-a-lot-just-around-where-i-live-in-brooklyn-heights/)

[Marky Ramone](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marky-ramone/)

> [“Eleven stories above Brooklyn Heights in a 659,000-square-foot building that also housed Morgan Stanley and the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-allen/eleven-stories-above-brooklyn-heights-in-a-659-000-square-foot/)

[Jonathan Allen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-allen/)

> [“But already this isn't quite right. The first apartment I had wasn't on the island at all. It was in Brooklyn Heights, a few…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/olivia-laing/but-already-this-isn-t-quite-right-the-first-apartment-i-had-wasn-t/)

[Olivia Laing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/olivia-laing/)

> [The New World Order is a more palatable name for the Anglo American world empire. It's the planetary domination of London, New York, Washington…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-jones/the-new-world-order-is-a-more-palatable-name-for-the-anglo-american/)

[Alex Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-jones/)

> [I'll always be American in my world view and allegiance. American in the naive way I go to other countries and tell them how…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eddie-huang/i-ll-always-be-american-in-my-world-view-and-allegiance-american-in/)

[Eddie Huang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eddie-huang/)

> [It's hard enough being American and trying to make it in an American world, but being Australian, you're from a whole different country and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/the-kid-laroi/it-s-hard-enough-being-american-and-trying-to-make-it-in-an-american/)

[The Kid Laroi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/the-kid-laroi/)

> [To be an American is to be part of the world because America, all the people of the world come to America.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jon-anderson/to-be-an-american-is-to-be-part-of-the-world-because-america-all-the/)

[Jon Anderson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jon-anderson/)

> [“The last thing I want to hear from a crotch, I yell, is Walt Whitman!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ron-whipple/the-last-thing-i-want-to-hear-from-a-crotch-i-yell-is-walt-whitman/)

[Ron Whipple](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ron-whipple/)

> [“I would think if you were going to quote Whitman you'd go for something not taken from Leaves Of Grass. Especially if you're going…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leah-clifford/i-would-think-if-you-were-going-to-quote-whitman-you-d-go-for/)

[Leah Clifford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leah-clifford/)

> [“Part of what makes the book bizzare is that Whitman, because he wants to stand for everyone, because he wants to be less a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-lerner/part-of-what-makes-the-book-bizzare-is-that-whitman-because-he-wants/)

[Ben Lerner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-lerner/)

> [“One marker, which I would read a bit later on, tells the familiar story of Narcissa Whitman, "trail-blazer and martyred missionary," who followed the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-d-kaplan/one-marker-which-i-would-read-a-bit-later-on-tells-the-familiar-story/)

[Robert D. Kaplan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-d-kaplan/)

> [I always knew in my heart Walt Whitman's mind to be more like my own than any other man's living.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerard-manley-hopkins/i-always-knew-in-my-heart-walt-whitman-s-mind-to-be-more-like-my-own/)

[Gerard Manley Hopkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerard-manley-hopkins/)

> [We did meet forty years ago. At that time we were both influenced by Whitman and I said, jokingly in part, 'I don't think…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jorge-luis-borges/we-did-meet-forty-years-ago-at-that-time-we-were-both-influenced-by/)

[Jorge Luis Borges](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jorge-luis-borges/)

> [Documentary is, therefore, an approach, which makes use of the artistic faculties to give vivification to fact - to use Walt Whitman's definition of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/beaumont-newhall/documentary-is-therefore-an-approach-which-makes-use-of-the-artistic/)

[Beaumont Newhall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/beaumont-newhall/)

> [“After ministering each day to the hundreds of young men who had endured ghastly wounds, submitted to amputations without anesthesia, and often died without…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doris-kearns-goodwin/after-ministering-each-day-to-the-hundreds-of-young-men-who-had/)

[Doris Kearns Goodwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/doris-kearns-goodwin/)

## More by Alfred Kazin

> [Art changes all the time, but it never "improves." It may go down, or up, but it never improves as technology and medicine improve.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-kazin/art-changes-all-the-time-but-it-never-improves-it-may-go-down-or-up/)

[Alfred Kazin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-kazin/)

> [“Power beyond reason created a lasting irrationality.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-kazin/power-beyond-reason-created-a-lasting-irrationality/)

[Alfred Kazin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-kazin/)

> [When a writer talks about his work, he's talking about a love affair.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-kazin/when-a-writer-talks-about-his-work-he-s-talking-about-a-love-affair/)

[Alfred Kazin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-kazin/)

> [History has become more important than ever because of the to unprecedented ability of the historical sciences to take in man's life on earth…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-kazin/history-has-become-more-important-than-ever-because-of-the-to/)

[Alfred Kazin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-kazin/)

> [Is it strange, then, that in a literature so concerned with realism and with personal liberation this refusal and impoverishment of the life of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-kazin/is-it-strange-then-that-in-a-literature-so-concerned-with-realism-and/)

[Alfred Kazin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-kazin/)

> [A classic is a book that survives the circumstances that made it possible yet alone keeps those circumstances alive.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-kazin/a-classic-is-a-book-that-survives-the-circumstances-that-made-it/)

[Alfred Kazin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-kazin/)

> [What need had the businessman to scribble or philosophize when he dominated the imagination of his time and the frantic materialism that was his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-kazin/what-need-had-the-businessman-to-scribble-or-philosophize-when-he/)

[Alfred Kazin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-kazin/)

> [One writes to make a home for oneself, on paper, in time, in others' minds.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-kazin/one-writes-to-make-a-home-for-oneself-on-paper-in-time-in-others-minds/)

[Alfred Kazin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-kazin/)

> [The writer writes in order to teach himself, to understand himself, to satisfy himself; the publishing of his ideas, though it brings gratification, is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-kazin/the-writer-writes-in-order-to-teach-himself-to-understand-himself-to/)

[Alfred Kazin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-kazin/)

> [Altogether beautiful in the power of its feeling. As beautiful as anything in Thoreau or Hemingway.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-kazin/altogether-beautiful-in-the-power-of-its-feeling-as-beautiful-as/)

[Alfred Kazin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-kazin/)

> [One writes to make a home for oneself, on paper, in time and in others' minds.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-kazin/one-writes-to-make-a-home-for-oneself-on-paper-in-time-and-in-others/)

[Alfred Kazin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-kazin/)

> [We never know how much has been missing from our lives until a true writer comes along.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-kazin/we-never-know-how-much-has-been-missing-from-our-lives-until-a-true/)

[Alfred Kazin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-kazin/)

> [A year after Hemingway died on the front page, Faulkner went off after a binge, as if dying was nobody's business but his own.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-kazin/a-year-after-hemingway-died-on-the-front-page-faulkner-went-off-after/)

[Alfred Kazin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-kazin/)

> [Walking I am unbound, and find that precious unity of life and imagination, that silent outgoing self, which is so easy to loose, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-kazin/walking-i-am-unbound-and-find-that-precious-unity-of-life-and/)

[Alfred Kazin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-kazin/)

> [What happens whenever we convert a writer into a symbol is that we lose the writer himself in all his indefeasible singularity, his particular…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-kazin/what-happens-whenever-we-convert-a-writer-into-a-symbol-is-that-we/)

[Alfred Kazin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-kazin/)

[Explore all 23 Alfred Kazin quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-kazin/)

## More Brooklyn quotes

> [Mike Tyson is the most complex person I've ever met in my life. I've known Mike since 1986. We're both from Brooklyn. I didn't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/spike-lee/mike-tyson-is-the-most-complex-person-i-ve-ever-met-in-my-life-i-ve/)

[Spike Lee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/spike-lee/)

> [Brooklyn is a very weird borough.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/keeth-smart/brooklyn-is-a-very-weird-borough/)

[Keeth Smart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/keeth-smart/)

> [Compton is this amazing place with a rich history. I see it as a new Brooklyn.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aja-brown/compton-is-this-amazing-place-with-a-rich-history-i-see-it-as-a-new/)

[Aja Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aja-brown/)

> [I love the little garden in the back of my family's brownstone in Brooklyn. Digging out there in the dirt is a joy for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/siri-hustvedt/i-love-the-little-garden-in-the-back-of-my-family-s-brownstone-in/)

[Siri Hustvedt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/siri-hustvedt/)

> [Brooklyn, where I grew up, is a competitive burg - there's always a pretty boy around the corner there, and you gotta look better…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theophilus-london/brooklyn-where-i-grew-up-is-a-competitive-burg-there-s-always-a/)

[Theophilus London](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theophilus-london/)

> [Coming from Haiti and growing up in Brooklyn, there's a lot of European influence when I get dressed up. I wear a lot of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wyclef-jean/coming-from-haiti-and-growing-up-in-brooklyn-there-s-a-lot-of/)

[Wyclef Jean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wyclef-jean/)

> [No, I ain't a star - I'm just a kid from Brooklyn, living his dream.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/astro/no-i-ain-t-a-star-i-m-just-a-kid-from-brooklyn-living-his-dream/)

[Astro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/astro/)

> [Brooklyn is not the easiest place to grow up in, although I wouldn't change that experience for anything.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-diamond/brooklyn-is-not-the-easiest-place-to-grow-up-in-although-i-wouldn-t/)

[Neil Diamond](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-diamond/)

> [My childhood here... was very limited. So it was a long, long time before I actually went out to Brooklyn.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-mccourt/my-childhood-here-was-very-limited-so-it-was-a-long-long-time-before/)

[Frank McCourt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-mccourt/)

> [My father grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y., with my grandparents. In Norwegian my name is pronounced 'Yoo' but my father used to call me…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jo-nesbo/my-father-grew-up-in-brooklyn-n-y-with-my-grandparents-in-norwegian/)

[Jo Nesbo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jo-nesbo/)

> [Comparing the Brooklyn that I know with Manhattan is like comparing a comfortable and complacent duenna to her more brilliant and neurotic sister.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carson-mccullers/comparing-the-brooklyn-that-i-know-with-manhattan-is-like-comparing-a/)

[Carson McCullers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carson-mccullers/)

> [We wept, Brooklyn was a lovely place to hit. If you got a ball in the air, you had a chance to get it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/duke-snider/we-wept-brooklyn-was-a-lovely-place-to-hit-if-you-got-a-ball-in-the/)

[Duke Snider](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/duke-snider/)

> [Bob Smith from Brooklyn is a guy who sometimes gets hung with problems and fears. Wolfman Jack is a happy-go-lucky guy who knows how…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wolfman-jack/bob-smith-from-brooklyn-is-a-guy-who-sometimes-gets-hung-with/)

[Wolfman Jack](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wolfman-jack/)

> [I don't think that you can say by any stretch of the imagination that all Wisconsin or Brooklyn-based poets write in a particular way.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthea-harvey/i-don-t-think-that-you-can-say-by-any-stretch-of-the-imagination-that/)

[Matthea Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthea-harvey/)

> [I had never really felt settled in Brooklyn. I think it had to do with growing up in New Jersey and being someone who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dani-shapiro/i-had-never-really-felt-settled-in-brooklyn-i-think-it-had-to-do-with/)

[Dani Shapiro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dani-shapiro/)

[Browse all 556 Brooklyn quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/brooklyn/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "Quotation",
            "text": "Brooklyn Heights itself is a window on the port. Here, where the perspective is fixed by the towers of Manhattan and the hills of New Jersey and Staten Island, the channels running between seem fingers of the world ocean. Here one can easily embrace the suggestion, which Whitman felt so easily, that the whole American world opens out from here, north and west.",
            "creator": {
                "@type": "Person",
                "name": "Alfred Kazin"
            },
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-kazin/brooklyn-heights-itself-is-a-window-on-the-port-here-where-the/",
            "about": {
                "@type": "Thing",
                "name": "Brooklyn"
            },
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-kazin/brooklyn-heights-itself-is-a-window-on-the-port-here-where-the/#quotation",
            "image": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ea3/alfred-kazin-24942_brooklyn_brooklyn-heights-itself-is-a-window-on-t_2849004.jpg",
                "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ea3/alfred-kazin-24942_brooklyn_brooklyn-heights-itself-is-a-window-on-t_2849004.jpg",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ea3/alfred-kazin-24942_brooklyn_brooklyn-heights-itself-is-a-window-on-t_2849004.jpg",
                "width": 1080,
                "height": 1080,
                "caption": "“Brooklyn Heights itself is a window on the port. Here, where the perspective is fixed by the towers of…” — Alfred Kazin",
                "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": "Alfred Kazin",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-kazin/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "Brooklyn Heights itself is a window...",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-kazin/brooklyn-heights-itself-is-a-window-on-the-port-here-where-the/"
                }
            ],
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-kazin/brooklyn-heights-itself-is-a-window-on-the-port-here-where-the/#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
            }
        }
    ]
}
```
