--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Yet this city (San Francisco) was also a…" description: "\"“Yet this city (San Francisco) was also a final refuge for many who had roamed the world, and finally found the home of their hearts...And while I hear..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/187/brian-doyle-20302_freedom_yet-this-city-san-francisco-was-also-a-f_2039413.jpg" --- # Yet this city (San Francisco) was also a final refuge for… ![“Yet this city (San Francisco) was also a final refuge for many who had roamed the world, and finally found the home of their hearts...And while I heard every sort of prosaic answer when I asked those people what brought and kept them here, each somehow also hinted at a deeper reason, having…” quote by Brian Doyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/187/brian-doyle-20302_freedom_yet-this-city-san-francisco-was-also-a-f_2039413.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/187/brian-doyle-20302_freedom_yet-this-city-san-francisco-was-also-a-f_2039413.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/187/brian-doyle-20302_freedom_yet-this-city-san-francisco-was-also-a-f_2039413.jpg) > ““Yet this city (San Francisco) was also a final refuge for many who had roamed the world, and finally found the home of their hearts...And while I heard every sort of prosaic answer when I asked those people what brought and kept them here, each somehow also hinted at a deeper reason, having something to do with freedom from expectations, freedom from the past, often freedom from their families; we do not admit much that families can be a kind of prison from which we yearn to escape, yet this is incontrovertibly so, as I know too well myself.”” [Brian Doyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-doyle/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. People seek San Francisco for freedom from expectations, past, and familial constraints, finding a heartfelt refuge. **In simple terms:** People look for freedom and belonging in the city. Key Takeaway Embrace places that offer personal liberation. Themes freedom belonging escape city life family dynamics Mood reflective nostalgic Type personal essay observational When to use this quote - relocating for work - seeking artistic community - escaping oppressive family - finding personal peace - starting anew Key Concepts existential longing urban refuge personal identity Questions to Reflect On - What expectations are you trying to escape? - How does a city become a sanctuary? A Different Perspective Freedom may be temporary; underlying issues can persist. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Final Refuge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/final-refuge-269188/) [Freedom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/freedom/) [Freedom Past](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/freedom-past-706846/) [Past Freedom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/past-freedom-2441623/) [Refuge Roamed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/refuge-roamed-3787646/) [San francisco](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/san-francisco/) ## Related quotes > [Without freedom from the past, there is no freedom to all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jiddu-krishnamurti/without-freedom-from-the-past-there-is-no-freedom-to-all/) [Jiddu Krishnamurti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jiddu-krishnamurti/) > [The greatest lesson we can learn from the past. . . is that freedom is at the core of every successful nation in the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-greatest-lesson-we-can-learn-from-the-past-is-that-freedom-is-at/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“Ah, sarcasm. The final refuge of the desperate.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ashlyn-macnamara/ah-sarcasm-the-final-refuge-of-the-desperate/) [Ashlyn Macnamara](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ashlyn-macnamara/) > [Dignity: the doomed man's final refuge.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/max-frisch/dignity-the-doomed-man-s-final-refuge/) [Max Frisch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/max-frisch/) > [If you follow the will of God, you know that in spite of all the terrible things that happen to you, you will never…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pope-benedict-xvi/if-you-follow-the-will-of-god-you-know-that-in-spite-of-all-the/) [Pope Benedict XVI](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pope-benedict-xvi/) > [“Remembering to forget the past allows you freedom from a past that holds back your Christian growth.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-george/remembering-to-forget-the-past-allows-you-freedom-from-a-past-that/) [Elizabeth George](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-george/) > [We don't live in tyrannies, you know, the king doesn't decide what's legitimate, and there's much more freedom than there was in the past.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noam-chomsky/we-don-t-live-in-tyrannies-you-know-the-king-doesn-t-decide-what-s/) [Noam Chomsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noam-chomsky/) > [“Things don't go away. They become you. There is no end, as T.S. Eliot somewhere says, but addition: the trailing consequence of further days…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/darin-strauss/things-don-t-go-away-they-become-you-there-is-no-end-as-t-s-eliot/) [Darin Strauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/darin-strauss/) > [And right action is freedom From past and future also.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/and-right-action-is-freedom-from-past-and-future-also/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [“We have a talent for disguising greed under the cloak of freedom. As for past acts of depravity, we prefer to ignore those. Progress,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-erikson/we-have-a-talent-for-disguising-greed-under-the-cloak-of-freedom-as/) [Steven Erikson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-erikson/) > [“And right action is freedom from past and future also. For most of us, this is the aim never to be realized. Who are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot-2/and-right-action-is-freedom-from-past-and-future-also-for-most-of-us/) [T.S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot-2/) > [“Understanding can lead to liberation. Knowledge can bring freedom from the past. For those who don’t take the time to understand their past and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/debra-fileta/understanding-can-lead-to-liberation-knowledge-can-bring-freedom-from/) [Debra Fileta](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/debra-fileta/) > [When I was 13, I began relaxing my hair, and that meant when I turned 18 it began to crack and fall off, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/soledad-o-brien/when-i-was-13-i-began-relaxing-my-hair-and-that-meant-when-i-turned/) [Soledad O'Brien](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/soledad-o-brien/) > [“French Polynesia embraces a vast ocean area strewn with faraway outer islands, each with a mystique of its own. The 118 islands and atolls…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-stanley/french-polynesia-embraces-a-vast-ocean-area-strewn-with-faraway-outer/) [David Stanley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-stanley/) > [I painted the words "GREAT ADVENTURE" in Beijing, Dallas, San Francisco, Copenhagen, and Japan. What it means to me is completely different to everybody…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-eine/i-painted-the-words-great-adventure-in-beijing-dallas-san-francisco/) [Ben Eine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-eine/) ## More by Brian Doyle > [“I am no heroic figure, but a man like any other, capable of selfish and selfless at once, of light and dark, courage and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-doyle/i-am-no-heroic-figure-but-a-man-like-any-other-capable-of-selfish-and/) [Brian Doyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-doyle/) > [“I began to wonder if he was not very consciously and deliberately choosing particular chapters of his life to tell, in order to tell…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-doyle/i-began-to-wonder-if-he-was-not-very-consciously-and-deliberately/) [Brian Doyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-doyle/) > [“Schaumburg was a town north and west of Chicago, and Mr Mahoney liked to say that he had been there once, to carry away…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-doyle/schaumburg-was-a-town-north-and-west-of-chicago-and-mr-mahoney-liked/) [Brian Doyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-doyle/) > [“He is only one of a million no, a billion stories you could tell about the living beings on just this side of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-doyle/he-is-only-one-of-a-million-no-a-billion-stories-you-could-tell-about/) [Brian Doyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-doyle/) > [“All stories are, in some form, prayers.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-doyle/all-stories-are-in-some-form-prayers/) [Brian Doyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-doyle/) > [“One thing I remember with amazement about Chicago is that everyone knew everything before it was splayed lurid and naked in public; you never…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-doyle/one-thing-i-remember-with-amazement-about-chicago-is-that-everyone/) [Brian Doyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-doyle/) > [“When I was a kid I thought that the biggest moments in life would be trumpeted and highlighted and italicized somehow, that you would…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-doyle/when-i-was-a-kid-i-thought-that-the-biggest-moments-in-life-would-be/) [Brian Doyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-doyle/) > [“You cannot edit your life, and even if I was today offered the chance to never meet her, and so not leave the city…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-doyle/you-cannot-edit-your-life-and-even-if-i-was-today-offered-the-chance/) [Brian Doyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-doyle/) > [“So much held in a heart in a lifetime. So much held in a heart in a day, an hour, a moment. We are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-doyle/so-much-held-in-a-heart-in-a-lifetime-so-much-held-in-a-heart-in-a/) [Brian Doyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-doyle/) > [“...you could see the man being formed, and kew the man to be your good and true friend, as long as life - the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-doyle/you-could-see-the-man-being-formed-and-kew-the-man-to-be-your-good/) [Brian Doyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-doyle/) > [“Everyone thinks that the old days were better, or that they were harder, and the modern times are chaotic and complex, or easier all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-doyle/everyone-thinks-that-the-old-days-were-better-or-that-they-were/) [Brian Doyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-doyle/) > [“Our hearts are not pure: our hearts are filled with need and greed as much as with love and grace, and we wrestle with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-doyle/our-hearts-are-not-pure-our-hearts-are-filled-with-need-and-greed-as/) [Brian Doyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-doyle/) > [“...your twenties are the years when a man wends and wanders, searching for who knows what - we say money or love or adventure,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-doyle/your-twenties-are-the-years-when-a-man-wends-and-wanders-searching/) [Brian Doyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-doyle/) > [“The coolest most amazing people I have met in my life, I said, are the ones who are not very interested in power or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-doyle/the-coolest-most-amazing-people-i-have-met-in-my-life-i-said-are-the/) [Brian Doyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-doyle/) > [“For some years a fishing boat bringing in regular catches, occasional permits filed for charter fishing, one permit filed for whale-watching cruise, a number…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-doyle/for-some-years-a-fishing-boat-bringing-in-regular-catches-occasional/) [Brian Doyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-doyle/) [Explore all 31 Brian Doyle quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-doyle/) ## More Freedom quotes > [One is a painter because one wants so-called freedom; one doesn't want to go to the office every morning.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-duchamp/one-is-a-painter-because-one-wants-so-called-freedom-one-doesn-t-want/) [Marcel Duchamp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-duchamp/) > [Some people still believe you should just fall in line with what's going on - and that's scary. 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Right and wrong demand freedom of choice, but if each action…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-lightman/in-a-world-of-fixed-future-there-can-be-no-right-or-wrong-right-and/) [Alan Lightman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-lightman/) > [“In any case, white people, who had robbed black people of their liberty and who profited by this theft every hour that they lived,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-baldwin/in-any-case-white-people-who-had-robbed-black-people-of-their-liberty/) [James Baldwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-baldwin/) > [I have observed this in my experience of slavery, - that whenever my condition was improved, instead of its increasing my contentment, it only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-douglass/i-have-observed-this-in-my-experience-of-slavery-that-whenever-my/) [Frederick Douglass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-douglass/) > [“I have to blame myself for not finding any way of reaching him, but I can't feel that either Ruth or I had anything…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/i-have-to-blame-myself-for-not-finding-any-way-of-reaching-him-but-i/) [Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) > [“It breaks my heart. 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I'm happy on the second tier, where I have autonomy on a professional level but I can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gabrielle-reece/i-don-t-want-to-be-famous-famous-i-m-happy-on-the-second-tier-where-i/) [Gabrielle Reece](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gabrielle-reece/) [Browse all 30,110 Freedom quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/freedom/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Yet this city (San Francisco) was also a final refuge for many who had roamed the world, and finally found the home of their hearts...And while I heard every sort of prosaic answer when I asked those people what brought and kept them here, each somehow also hinted at a deeper reason, having something to do with freedom from expectations, freedom from the past, often freedom from their families; we do not admit much that families can be a kind of prison from which we yearn to escape, yet this is incontrovertibly so, as I know too well myself.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Brian Doyle" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-doyle/yet-this-city-san-francisco-was-also-a-final-refuge-for-many-who-had/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Freedom" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-doyle/yet-this-city-san-francisco-was-also-a-final-refuge-for-many-who-had/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/187/brian-doyle-20302_freedom_yet-this-city-san-francisco-was-also-a-f_2039413.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/187/brian-doyle-20302_freedom_yet-this-city-san-francisco-was-also-a-f_2039413.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/187/brian-doyle-20302_freedom_yet-this-city-san-francisco-was-also-a-f_2039413.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Yet this city (San Francisco) was also a final refuge for many who had roamed the world, and finally found…” — Brian Doyle", "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": "Brian Doyle", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-doyle/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“Yet this city (San Francisco) was...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-doyle/yet-this-city-san-francisco-was-also-a-final-refuge-for-many-who-had/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-doyle/yet-this-city-san-francisco-was-also-a-final-refuge-for-many-who-had/#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 } } ] } ```