--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: If fences don't work, why is there one…" description: "\"If fences don't work, why is there one around the White House?\" — Charles Krauthammer" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d22/charles-krauthammer-1232_fence_if-fences-don-t-work-why-is-there-one-ar_862013.png" --- # If fences don't work, why is there one around the White… ![“If fences don't work, why is there one around the White House?” quote by Charles Krauthammer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d22/charles-krauthammer-1232_fence_if-fences-don-t-work-why-is-there-one-ar_862013.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d22/charles-krauthammer-1232_fence_if-fences-don-t-work-why-is-there-one-ar_862013.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d22/charles-krauthammer-1232_fence_if-fences-don-t-work-why-is-there-one-ar_862013.png) > “If fences don't work, why is there one around the White House?” [Charles Krauthammer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-krauthammer/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Security measures often become symbolic rather than effective, highlighting contradictions in policy. **In simple terms:** Fences may be symbolic, not functional. Key Takeaway Question the purpose of security symbols. Themes politics security contradiction Mood critical analytical Type political philosophical When to use this quote - urban planning - public policy debates - security assessments - civic education Key Concepts symbolic measures policy critique effectiveness Questions to Reflect On - Why maintain ineffective barriers? - What alternatives improve real security? A Different Perspective Symbolic fences can provide false reassurance. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Fences](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fences/) [Inspirational](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inspirational/) [White house](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/white-house/) ## Related quotes > [I never dreamed I would one day work at it White House.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-hughes/i-never-dreamed-i-would-one-day-work-at-it-white-house/) [Karen Hughes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-hughes/) > [ I really wanted to show \[in "fences"\] a marriage that is working. Not perfect, but working. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/viola-davis/i-really-wanted-to-show-in-fences-a-marriage-that-is-working-not/) [Viola Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/viola-davis/) > [Ever wonder why people are so determined to reach for white picket fences, supposed normalcy, a nuclear family? Well, try growing up without one.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chuck-eddy/ever-wonder-why-people-are-so-determined-to-reach-for-white-picket/) [Chuck Eddy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chuck-eddy/) > [If you put fences around people, you get sheep. Give people the room they need.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-l-mcknight/if-you-put-fences-around-people-you-get-sheep-give-people-the-room/) William L. McKnight > [ \[Rose from "Fences"\] couldn't just jump out there. Not just because of economic reasons but because how she was looked at in society at… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/denzel-washington/rose-from-fences-couldn-t-just-jump-out-there-not-just-because-of/) [Denzel Washington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/denzel-washington/) > [How hard it is to escape from places. However carefully one goes they hold you — you leave little bits of yourself fluttering on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katherine-mansfield/how-hard-it-is-to-escape-from-places-however-carefully-one-goes-they/) [Katherine Mansfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katherine-mansfield/) > [ Even though the story \[Fences\] is set during the 1950s, some contemporary women might have trouble understanding her decision. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/denzel-washington/even-though-the-story-fences-is-set-during-the-1950s-some/) [Denzel Washington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/denzel-washington/) > [I went to a performing arts high school, we learned Shakespeare, I did 'Fences.' When you train, you can do anything.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marlon-wayans/i-went-to-a-performing-arts-high-school-we-learned-shakespeare-i-did/) [Marlon Wayans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marlon-wayans/) > [He who rides and keeps the beaten track studies the fences chiefly.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/he-who-rides-and-keeps-the-beaten-track-studies-the-fences-chiefly/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) > [ You'll see some great performances \[in Fences\]. And I'm not just saying that because I directed it either! You'll see! ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/denzel-washington/you-ll-see-some-great-performances-in-fences-and-i-m-not-just-saying/) [Denzel Washington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/denzel-washington/) > [ For me, that was a hard scene \[in "Fences"\] to do twenty-something times, which (laughing), I counted. That was difficult, but once I did… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/viola-davis/for-me-that-was-a-hard-scene-in-fences-to-do-twenty-something-times/) [Viola Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/viola-davis/) > [One can't build little white picket fences to keep nightmares out.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-sexton/one-can-t-build-little-white-picket-fences-to-keep-nightmares-out/) [Anne Sexton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-sexton/) > [Safety is a fence, and fences are for sheep.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-marie-moning/safety-is-a-fence-and-fences-are-for-sheep/) [Karen Marie Moning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-marie-moning/) > [In a world without fences, who needs Gates?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/scott-mcnealy/in-a-world-without-fences-who-needs-gates/) [Scott McNealy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/scott-mcnealy/) > [If nowhere else, in the relation between Church and State, "good fences make good neighbors.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/felix-frankfurter/if-nowhere-else-in-the-relation-between-church-and-state-good-fences/) [Felix Frankfurter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/felix-frankfurter/) ## More by Charles Krauthammer > [Obama and the Democrats were so critical of what Bush did, the interrogations, the secret prisons, Guantanamo and all of that, and even the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-krauthammer/obama-and-the-democrats-were-so-critical-of-what-bush-did-the/) [Charles Krauthammer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-krauthammer/) > [“America is the most welcoming, religiously tolerant, philo-semitic country in the world. No nation since Cyrus the Great’s Persia has done more for the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-krauthammer/america-is-the-most-welcoming-religiously-tolerant-philo-semitic/) [Charles Krauthammer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-krauthammer/) > [I believe in what I believe, and I think after all these years I've heard a lot of arguments, and I'm convinced by the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-krauthammer/i-believe-in-what-i-believe-and-i-think-after-all-these-years-i-ve/) [Charles Krauthammer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-krauthammer/) > [With our financial house on fire, Obama makes clear both in in his speech and his budget that the essence of his presidency will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-krauthammer/with-our-financial-house-on-fire-obama-makes-clear-both-in-in-his/) [Charles Krauthammer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-krauthammer/) > [The conservative idea is not that government has no role. You might have argued that in the thirties when conservatives opposed the New Deal.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-krauthammer/the-conservative-idea-is-not-that-government-has-no-role-you-might/) [Charles Krauthammer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-krauthammer/) > [The war is not going well and it is time to say why. It has been fought with half-measures. It has been fought with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-krauthammer/the-war-is-not-going-well-and-it-is-time-to-say-why-it-has-been/) [Charles Krauthammer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-krauthammer/) > [“International stability is never a given. It is never the norm. When achieved, it is the product of self-conscious action by the great powers,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-krauthammer/international-stability-is-never-a-given-it-is-never-the-norm-when/) [Charles Krauthammer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-krauthammer/) > [Look, I don't mind if the President sends a budget which he knows is not going to achieve anything. But when he prefaces his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-krauthammer/look-i-don-t-mind-if-the-president-sends-a-budget-which-he-knows-is/) [Charles Krauthammer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-krauthammer/) > [“Politics is the moat, the walls, beyond which lie the barbarians. Fail to keep them at bay, and everything burns.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-krauthammer/politics-is-the-moat-the-walls-beyond-which-lie-the-barbarians-fail/) [Charles Krauthammer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-krauthammer/) > [Don't touch my junk, you airport security goon--my package belongs to no one but me, and do you really think I'm a Nigerian nut…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-krauthammer/don-t-touch-my-junk-you-airport-security-goon-my-package-belongs-to/) [Charles Krauthammer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-krauthammer/) > [“The Russian Revolution and its imitators (Chinese, Cuban, Vietnamese, Cambodian) tried to atomize society so thoroughly--to war against the mediating structures that stand between…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-krauthammer/the-russian-revolution-and-its-imitators-chinese-cuban-vietnamese/) [Charles Krauthammer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-krauthammer/) > [Where religion is trivialized, one is unlikely to find persecution.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-krauthammer/where-religion-is-trivialized-one-is-unlikely-to-find-persecution/) [Charles Krauthammer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-krauthammer/) > [We must now brace ourselves for disquisitions on peer pressure, adolescent anomie, and rage.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-krauthammer/we-must-now-brace-ourselves-for-disquisitions-on-peer-pressure/) [Charles Krauthammer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-krauthammer/) > [Post-Watergate morality, by which anything left private is taken as presumptive evidence of wrongdoing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-krauthammer/post-watergate-morality-by-which-anything-left-private-is-taken-as/) [Charles Krauthammer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-krauthammer/) > [“The largest threat to freedom, democracy, the market economy and prosperity,' warns Czech president Vaclav Klaus, 'is no longer socialism. It is, instead, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-krauthammer/the-largest-threat-to-freedom-democracy-the-market-economy-and/) [Charles Krauthammer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-krauthammer/) [Explore all 268 Charles Krauthammer quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-krauthammer/) ## More Fence quotes > [ By profession a biologist, \[Thomas Henry Huxley\] covered in fact the whole field of the exact sciences, and then bulged through its four fences.… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/by-profession-a-biologist-thomas-henry-huxley-covered-in-fact-the/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) > [My dreams were always small and puny. All I ever needed was a little house with a little picket fence by the sea. Little…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/imelda-marcos/my-dreams-were-always-small-and-puny-all-i-ever-needed-was-a-little/) [Imelda Marcos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/imelda-marcos/) > [I have yet to see someone attack Obama over his report card. A lot of people I talk to from both sides of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lupe-fiasco/i-have-yet-to-see-someone-attack-obama-over-his-report-card-a-lot-of/) [Lupe Fiasco](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lupe-fiasco/) > [She was gone, and all that was left was the space where you'd grown around her, like a tree that grows around a fence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicole-krauss/she-was-gone-and-all-that-was-left-was-the-space-where-you-d-grown/) [Nicole Krauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicole-krauss/) > [I only wanted Uncle Vernon standing by his own car (a Hudson) on a clear day, I got him and the car. Ialso got…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lee-friedlander/i-only-wanted-uncle-vernon-standing-by-his-own-car-a-hudson-on-a/) [Lee Friedlander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lee-friedlander/) > [My loneliness...still comes over me sometimes...It's a liminal, lost sensation of having wandered wide, endless boulevards, among rows of orange trees, winter butterflies, seasons…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marco-roth/my-loneliness-still-comes-over-me-sometimes-it-s-a-liminal-lost/) [Marco Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marco-roth/) > [Pedestrian's rights - because we live in California, I've got to address this issue. I don't know where on the fence I am about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janeane-garofalo/pedestrian-s-rights-because-we-live-in-california-i-ve-got-to-address/) [Janeane Garofalo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janeane-garofalo/) > [Life is not that simple. That is why it is called life. That word includes both lie and if. Time to figure out which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/corey-taylor/life-is-not-that-simple-that-is-why-it-is-called-life-that-word/) [Corey Taylor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/corey-taylor/) > [The first time I played golf was in Flushing Meadows, Queens, when I was about 16 or 17. They had an 18-hole pitch-and-putt. My…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-romano/the-first-time-i-played-golf-was-in-flushing-meadows-queens-when-i/) [Ray Romano](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-romano/) > [Coffee arrived and the espresso was excellent, like an aromatic electric fence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-aaronovitch/coffee-arrived-and-the-espresso-was-excellent-like-an-aromatic/) [Ben Aaronovitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-aaronovitch/) > [There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground, And swallows circling with their shimmering sound; And frogs in the pool singing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sara-teasdale/there-will-come-soft-rains-and-the-smell-of-the-ground-and-swallows/) [Sara Teasdale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sara-teasdale/) > [May the state fence in the harmless mentally ill solely to save its citizens from exposure to those whose ways are different? One might…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/potter-stewart/may-the-state-fence-in-the-harmless-mentally-ill-solely-to-save-its/) [Potter Stewart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/potter-stewart/) > [I can't give you the white picket fence, and if I did, you'd set it on fire.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ilona-andrews/i-can-t-give-you-the-white-picket-fence-and-if-i-did-you-d-set-it-on/) [Ilona Andrews](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ilona-andrews/) > [Most folks are like a barb-wire fence. They have their good points.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/texas-bix-bender/most-folks-are-like-a-barb-wire-fence-they-have-their-good-points/) [Texas Bix Bender](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/texas-bix-bender/) > [“I ran straight into the wooden fence at the foot of the field. I was lucky that it had been a rail fence, rather…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-keeble/i-ran-straight-into-the-wooden-fence-at-the-foot-of-the-field-i-was/) [Helen Keeble](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-keeble/) Browse all 673 Fence quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "If fences don't work, why is there one around the White House?", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Charles Krauthammer" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-krauthammer/if-fences-don-t-work-why-is-there-one-around-the-white-house/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Fence" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-krauthammer/if-fences-don-t-work-why-is-there-one-around-the-white-house/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d22/charles-krauthammer-1232_fence_if-fences-don-t-work-why-is-there-one-ar_862013.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d22/charles-krauthammer-1232_fence_if-fences-don-t-work-why-is-there-one-ar_862013.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d22/charles-krauthammer-1232_fence_if-fences-don-t-work-why-is-there-one-ar_862013.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“If fences don't work, why is there one around the White House?” — Charles Krauthammer", "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": "Charles Krauthammer", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-krauthammer/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "If fences don't work, why is...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-krauthammer/if-fences-don-t-work-why-is-there-one-around-the-white-house/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-krauthammer/if-fences-don-t-work-why-is-there-one-around-the-white-house/#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 } } ] } ```