--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Give a man secure possession of a bleak…" description: "\"Give a man secure possession of a bleak rock, and he will turn it into a garden; give him nine years' lease of a garden, and he will convert it into a ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/222/arthur-young-37617_bleak_give-a-man-secure-possession-of-a-bleak_3016717.jpg" --- # Give a man secure possession of a bleak rock, and he will… ![“Give a man secure possession of a bleak rock, and he will turn it into a garden; give him nine years' lease of a garden, and he will convert it into a desert.” quote by Arthur Young](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/222/arthur-young-37617_bleak_give-a-man-secure-possession-of-a-bleak_3016717.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/222/arthur-young-37617_bleak_give-a-man-secure-possession-of-a-bleak_3016717.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/222/arthur-young-37617_bleak_give-a-man-secure-possession-of-a-bleak_3016717.jpg) > “Give a man secure possession of a bleak rock, and he will turn it into a garden; give him nine years' lease of a garden, and he will convert it into a desert.” [Arthur Young](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-young/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Secure resources lead to exploitation; temporary security leads to neglect. **In simple terms:** Short‑term security can cause decay. Key Takeaway Balance security with stewardship. Themes resource management stewardship short‑term vs long‑term Mood analytical cautionary Type policy philosophical When to use this quote - land use - investment planning - urban development - conservation Key Concepts economics environmental ethics Questions to Reflect On - How does security affect resource use? - What safeguards prevent neglect? A Different Perspective May oversimplify complex socio‑economic factors. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Desert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/desert/) [Garden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/garden/) [Gardening](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gardening/) [Giving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/giving/) [Mankind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mankind/) [Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) [Possession](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/possession/) [Rocks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rocks/) ## Related quotes > [When you get older, you learn certain life lessons. You apply that wisdom, and suddenly you say, 'Hey, I've got a new lease on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-redford/when-you-get-older-you-learn-certain-life-lessons-you-apply-that/) [Robert Redford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-redford/) > [As it happens, Chicago is the nation's leader in municipal privatization efforts. That's right: The city that conservatives portray as the citadel of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-frank/as-it-happens-chicago-is-the-nation-s-leader-in-municipal/) [Thomas Frank](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-frank/) > [There is a park that is known 4 the face it attracts colorful people whose hair On 1 side is swept back The smile…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/prince/there-is-a-park-that-is-known-4-the-face-it-attracts-colorful-people/) [Prince](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/prince/) > [I hope to one day co-sign a lease with another person but, well, it doesn't plague me that I have yet to do so.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sloane-crosley/i-hope-to-one-day-co-sign-a-lease-with-another-person-but-well-it/) [Sloane Crosley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sloane-crosley/) > [We are all going to die, sometimes even in the middle of a lease.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mallory-ortberg/we-are-all-going-to-die-sometimes-even-in-the-middle-of-a-lease/) [Mallory Ortberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mallory-ortberg/) > [“You've given her a new lease on life.' 'She didn't need one. She owns life.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ellen-airgood/you-ve-given-her-a-new-lease-on-life-she-didn-t-need-one-she-owns-life/) [Ellen Airgood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ellen-airgood/) > [Old age is a lease nature only signs as a particular favor, and it may be, to one, only in the space of two…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-de-montaigne/old-age-is-a-lease-nature-only-signs-as-a-particular-favor-and-it-may/) [Michel de Montaigne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-de-montaigne/) > [Life is a secret lease from God and we should not allow ourselves to be bruised. Family life is our strength and success.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-losey/life-is-a-secret-lease-from-god-and-we-should-not-allow-ourselves-to/) Joseph Losey > [For too long, the system has been biased in favor of oil and gas developers: sweetheart lease deals, generous subsidies and a regulatory process…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chellie-pingree/for-too-long-the-system-has-been-biased-in-favor-of-oil-and-gas/) [Chellie Pingree](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chellie-pingree/) > [I told myself I never wanted to rent again. Even though it's a battle, I'm lucky cause I'm living in a cheaper part of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/justin-vernon/i-told-myself-i-never-wanted-to-rent-again-even-though-it-s-a-battle/) [Justin Vernon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/justin-vernon/) > [Lease terms don't fit start-up lives.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexa-hirschfeld/lease-terms-don-t-fit-start-up-lives/) [Alexa Hirschfeld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexa-hirschfeld/) > [When death gives us a long lease of life, it takes as hostages all those whom we have loved.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/suzanne-curchod/when-death-gives-us-a-long-lease-of-life-it-takes-as-hostages-all/) [Suzanne Curchod](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/suzanne-curchod/) > [The chief secret of comfort lies in not suffering trifles to vex us, and in prudently cultivating our undergrowth of small pleasures, since very…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-sharp/the-chief-secret-of-comfort-lies-in-not-suffering-trifles-to-vex-us/) Richard Sharp > [ I'd like to have a vote on it at the November \[owners'\] meetings. There's no reason why we can't announce who we intend to… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-dupuy/i-d-like-to-have-a-vote-on-it-at-the-november-owners-meetings-there-s/) Bob DuPuy > [The seeds of the life of fishes are everywhere disseminated, whether the winds waft them, or the waters float them, or the deep earth…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/the-seeds-of-the-life-of-fishes-are-everywhere-disseminated-whether/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) ## More by Arthur Young > [There is a great difference between a good physician and a bad one; yet very little between a good one and none at all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-young/there-is-a-great-difference-between-a-good-physician-and-a-bad-one/) [Arthur Young](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-young/) > [The self in a toroidal Universe can be both separate and connected with everything else.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-young/the-self-in-a-toroidal-universe-can-be-both-separate-and-connected/) [Arthur Young](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-young/) > [God sleeps in the minerals, awakens in plants, walks in animals, and thinks in man.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-young/god-sleeps-in-the-minerals-awakens-in-plants-walks-in-animals-and/) [Arthur Young](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-young/) > [The tendency of philosophers who know nothing of machinery is to talk of man as a mere mechanism, intending by this to imply that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-young/the-tendency-of-philosophers-who-know-nothing-of-machinery-is-to-talk/) [Arthur Young](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-young/) > [Science already contained all that was necessary, if you just brought it out.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-young/science-already-contained-all-that-was-necessary-if-you-just-brought/) [Arthur Young](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-young/) > [The purpose creates the machine.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-young/the-purpose-creates-the-machine/) [Arthur Young](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-young/) > [The spirit or life spark which animates this manifestation could be called God.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-young/the-spirit-or-life-spark-which-animates-this-manifestation-could-be/) [Arthur Young](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-young/) > [Everyone but an idiot knows that the lower classes must be kept poor, or they will never be industrious.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-young/everyone-but-an-idiot-knows-that-the-lower-classes-must-be-kept-poor/) [Arthur Young](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-young/) > [The magic of property turns sand to gold.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-young/the-magic-of-property-turns-sand-to-gold/) [Arthur Young](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-young/) > [Will posterity believe that, while the Press has swarmed with inflammatory productions that tend to prove the blessing of theoretical confusion and speculative licentiousness,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-young/will-posterity-believe-that-while-the-press-has-swarmed-with/) [Arthur Young](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-young/) [Explore all 11 Arthur Young quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-young/) ## More Bleak quotes > [Single-sex private schools, especially in the middle of nowhere on a bleak hill in County Durham - I don't think they make sense.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/giles-deacon/single-sex-private-schools-especially-in-the-middle-of-nowhere-on-a/) [Giles Deacon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/giles-deacon/) > [I wonder whether my bleak-o-meter is set differently from other people's.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrea-arnold/i-wonder-whether-my-bleak-o-meter-is-set-differently-from-other/) [Andrea Arnold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrea-arnold/) > [I felt cheated by the way grown-ups told me that the future of the world was bleak when I became a teenager in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-ridley/i-felt-cheated-by-the-way-grown-ups-told-me-that-the-future-of-the/) [Matt Ridley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-ridley/) > [No wonder of it: sheer plod makes plough down sillion Shine, and blue-bleak embers, ah my dear, Fall, gall themselves, and gash gold-vermilion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerard-manley-hopkins/no-wonder-of-it-sheer-plod-makes-plough-down-sillion-shine-and-blue/) [Gerard Manley Hopkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerard-manley-hopkins/) > [“During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edgar-allan-poe/during-the-whole-of-a-dull-dark-and-soundless-day-in-the-autumn-of/) [Edgar Allan Poe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edgar-allan-poe/) > [T is liberty crowns Britannia's Isle, And makes her barren rocks and her bleak mountains smile.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-addison/t-is-liberty-crowns-britannia-s-isle-and-makes-her-barren-rocks-and/) [Joseph Addison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-addison/) > [The future looks a bit bleak to me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paolo-bacigalupi/the-future-looks-a-bit-bleak-to-me/) [Paolo Bacigalupi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paolo-bacigalupi/) > [Nothing that's ever happened has taken away the optimist in me. It's always, "Whatever-let's go to Disneyland." Yes, I have my bleak, tortured-artist moments,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mariah-carey/nothing-that-s-ever-happened-has-taken-away-the-optimist-in-me-it-s/) [Mariah Carey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mariah-carey/) > [ I think because the show \["Grant MacLaren"\] is essentially a hopeful show. The show says that as bleak as the future is, the one… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-mccormack/i-think-because-the-show-grant-maclaren-is-essentially-a-hopeful-show/) [Eric McCormack](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-mccormack/) > [In his bleak mercy, Death forever strips The soul of light and memory, rendering blind Our vision, lest surmounted deeps appal, As when on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clark-ashton-smith/in-his-bleak-mercy-death-forever-strips-the-soul-of-light-and-memory/) [Clark Ashton Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clark-ashton-smith/) > [Gay life in 1970 was very bleak, compartmentalized. You didn't take it to work. You had to really lead a double life. There were…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/larry-kramer/gay-life-in-1970-was-very-bleak-compartmentalized-you-didn-t-take-it/) [Larry Kramer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/larry-kramer/) > [“Life, on Hardcore mode, she thought with a twinge of bleak humor. No do-overs. No save files. Harper”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-bellet/life-on-hardcore-mode-she-thought-with-a-twinge-of-bleak-humor-no-do/) [Annie Bellet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-bellet/) > [A cold and searching wind drives away all contagion, and nothing can withstand it but what has a virtue in it, and accordingly, whatever…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/a-cold-and-searching-wind-drives-away-all-contagion-and-nothing-can/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) > [“Killing the poorest third is good genetics.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-a-heinlein/killing-the-poorest-third-is-good-genetics/) [Robert A. Heinlein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-a-heinlein/) > [“Wyoming, to Annie, was represented by a blank, bleak space in her imagination. It was a place she could hide. The worst that could…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-wilson/wyoming-to-annie-was-represented-by-a-blank-bleak-space-in-her/) [Kevin Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-wilson/) Browse all 335 Bleak quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Give a man secure possession of a bleak rock, and he will turn it into a garden; give him nine years' lease of a garden, and he will convert it into a desert.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Arthur Young" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-young/give-a-man-secure-possession-of-a-bleak-rock-and-he-will-turn-it-into/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Bleak" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-young/give-a-man-secure-possession-of-a-bleak-rock-and-he-will-turn-it-into/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/222/arthur-young-37617_bleak_give-a-man-secure-possession-of-a-bleak_3016717.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/222/arthur-young-37617_bleak_give-a-man-secure-possession-of-a-bleak_3016717.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/222/arthur-young-37617_bleak_give-a-man-secure-possession-of-a-bleak_3016717.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Give a man secure possession of a bleak rock, and he will turn it into a garden; give him nine years' lease…” — Arthur Young", "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": "Arthur Young", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-young/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Give a man secure possession of...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-young/give-a-man-secure-possession-of-a-bleak-rock-and-he-will-turn-it-into/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-young/give-a-man-secure-possession-of-a-bleak-rock-and-he-will-turn-it-into/#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 } } ] } ```