--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: With three or more people there is…" description: "\"With three or more people there is something bold in the air: direct things get said which would frighten two people alone and conscious of each inch o..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9a7/elizabeth-bowen-1197_air_with-three-or-more-people-there-is-somet_2139926.jpg" --- # With three or more people there is something bold in the… ![“With three or more people there is something bold in the air: direct things get said which would frighten two people alone and conscious of each inch of their nearness to one another. To be three is to be in public - you feel safe.” quote by Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9a7/elizabeth-bowen-1197_air_with-three-or-more-people-there-is-somet_2139926.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9a7/elizabeth-bowen-1197_air_with-three-or-more-people-there-is-somet_2139926.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9a7/elizabeth-bowen-1197_air_with-three-or-more-people-there-is-somet_2139926.jpg) > “With three or more people there is something bold in the air: direct things get said which would frighten two people alone and conscious of each inch of their nearness to one another. To be three is to be in public - you feel safe.” [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. In groups of three, people feel safer to speak boldly, unlike when only two are present. **In simple terms:** Three people feel safer to speak openly. Key Takeaway Leverage group dynamics for honest dialogue. Themes communication social safety group dynamics Mood thoughtful analytical Type observational philosophical When to use this quote - team meetings - conflict resolution - public speaking Key Concepts psychology interpersonal relations confidence Questions to Reflect On - How does group size affect honesty? - When is a larger audience counterproductive? A Different Perspective May not apply in cultures valuing privacy. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Air](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/air/) [Conscious](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conscious/) [Direct](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/direct/) [Feel Safe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/feel-safe/) [Feels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/feels/) [Frighten People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/frighten-people-1827547/) [Inches](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inches/) [Money](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/money/) [Nearness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nearness/) [Nearness Public](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nearness-public-4451010/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [Public Feel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/public-feel-807926/) [Relationship](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/relationship/) [Safe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/safe/) [Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/said/) [Three](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/three/) [Two](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/two/) ## Related quotes > [“Rather than admitting you don't know what to do next, you fake it in public and feel lost when you're alone.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-p-freeman/rather-than-admitting-you-don-t-know-what-to-do-next-you-fake-it-in/) [Emily P. 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And this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noam-chomsky/we-must-present-a-national-persona-of-being-irrational-and-vindictive/) [Noam Chomsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noam-chomsky/) > [I think there are two ways in which people are controlled - first of all frighten people and secondly demoralize them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-benn/i-think-there-are-two-ways-in-which-people-are-controlled-first-of/) [Tony Benn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-benn/) ## More by Elizabeth Bowen > [Temperamentally, the writer exists on happenings, on contacts, conflicts, action and reaction, speed, pressure, tension. Were he acontemplative purely, he would not write.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/temperamentally-the-writer-exists-on-happenings-on-contacts-conflicts/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [“Are you really an orphan? Yes, I am, said Portia a shade shortly. Are you? 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One's relation to them, the daily…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/only-in-a-house-where-one-has-learnt-to-be-lonely-does-one-have-this/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [To walk into history is to be free at once, to be at large among people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/to-walk-into-history-is-to-be-free-at-once-to-be-at-large-among-people/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [The wish to lead out one's lover must be a tribal feeling; the wish to be seen as loved is part of one's self-respect.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/the-wish-to-lead-out-one-s-lover-must-be-a-tribal-feeling-the-wish-to/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [Convention was our safeguard: could one have stronger?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/convention-was-our-safeguard-could-one-have-stronger/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [“First love, with its frantic haughty imagination, swings its object clear of the everyday, over the rut of living, making him all looks, silences,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/first-love-with-its-frantic-haughty-imagination-swings-its-object/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [to leap is not only to leap, it is to hit the ground somewhere.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/to-leap-is-not-only-to-leap-it-is-to-hit-the-ground-somewhere/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [That is partly why women marry - to keep up the fiction of being in the hub of things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/that-is-partly-why-women-marry-to-keep-up-the-fiction-of-being-in-the/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [“But Miss Pym gave an impression, somehow, of having been attacked from within .”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/but-miss-pym-gave-an-impression-somehow-of-having-been-attacked-from/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [rudeness to Mrs. Dosely was like dropping a pat of butter on to a hot plate - it slid and melted away.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/rudeness-to-mrs-dosely-was-like-dropping-a-pat-of-butter-on-to-a-hot/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) [Explore all 275 Elizabeth Bowen quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) ## More Air quotes > [I will be a tireless advocate for our District's defense priorities including Sheppard Air Force Base, Pantex, Bell Helicopter, universities conducting important research, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ronny-jackson/i-will-be-a-tireless-advocate-for-our-district-s-defense-priorities/) [Ronny Jackson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ronny-jackson/) > [I have lifted my plane . . . for perhaps a thousand flights and I have never felt her wheels glide from the Earth…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/beryl-markham/i-have-lifted-my-plane-for-perhaps-a-thousand-flights-and-i-have/) [Beryl Markham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/beryl-markham/) > [If U.S. air, naval, missile, and ground forces were not in and around Korea, and if we were not treaty-bound to fight alongside South…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pat-buchanan/if-u-s-air-naval-missile-and-ground-forces-were-not-in-and-around/) [Pat Buchanan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pat-buchanan/) > [The cooler days have brought a wistful mood upon him. 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