Big city Quote by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
““Out of the welter of life, a few people are selected for us by the accident of temporary confinement in the same circle. We never would have chosen these neighbors; life chose them for us. But thrown together on this island of living, we stretch to understand each other and are invigorated by the stretching. The difficulty with big city environment is that if we select—and we must in order to live and breathe and work in such crowded conditions—we tend to select people like ourselves, a very monotonous diet. All hors d’oeuvres and no meat; or all sweets and no vegetables, depending on the kind of people we are. But however much the diet may differ between us, one thing is fairly certain: we usually select the known, seldom the strange. We tend not to choose the unknown which might be a shock or a disappointment or simply a little difficult to cope with. And yet it is the unknown with all its disappointments and surprises that is the most enriching.””
About This Quote
Source Book: Gift from the Sea, 1955
We often end up with neighbors chosen by circumstance, not by choice, and this random proximity can broaden our perspectives if we embrace the unfamiliar.
In simple terms: Life forces us to live with people we didn’t pick, offering growth through diversity.
Key Takeaway
Seek out diverse relationships.
Themes
community
diversity
growth
choice
serendipity
Mood
reflective
hopeful
Type
philosophical
inspirational
When to use this quote
- city living
- shared housing
- workplace teams
- neighborhood groups
- online communities
Key Concepts
Social psychology
urban sociology
human connection
Questions to Reflect On
- How can you welcome the unknown into your daily life?
- What benefits have you noticed from diverse interactions?
A Different Perspective
We may resist unfamiliar people due to fear of conflict or disappointment.
