--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: We'd never seen anything as green as…" description: "\"“We'd never seen anything as green as these rice paddies. It was not just the paddies themselves: the surrounding vegetation - foliage so dense the tre..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/52c/geoff-dyer-8822_asia_we-d-never-seen-anything-as-green-as-the_236881.jpg" --- # We'd never seen anything as green as these rice paddies… ![“We'd never seen anything as green as these rice paddies. It was not just the paddies themselves: the surrounding vegetation - foliage so dense the trees lost track of whose leaves were whose - was a rainbow coalition of one colour: green. There was an infinity of greens, rendered all the greener…” quote by Geoff Dyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/52c/geoff-dyer-8822_asia_we-d-never-seen-anything-as-green-as-the_236881.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/52c/geoff-dyer-8822_asia_we-d-never-seen-anything-as-green-as-the_236881.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/52c/geoff-dyer-8822_asia_we-d-never-seen-anything-as-green-as-the_236881.jpg) > ““We'd never seen anything as green as these rice paddies. It was not just the paddies themselves: the surrounding vegetation - foliage so dense the trees lost track of whose leaves were whose - was a rainbow coalition of one colour: green. There was an infinity of greens, rendered all the greener by splashes of red hibiscus and the herons floating past, so white and big it seemed as if sheets hung out to dry had suddenly taken wing. All other colours - even purple and black - were shades of green. Light and shade were degrees of green. Greenness, here, was less a colour than a colonising impulse. Everything was either already green - like a snake, bright as a blade of grass, sidling across the footpath - or in the process of becoming so. Statues of the Buddha were mossy, furred with green.”” [Geoff Dyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/geoff-dyer/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Describes an overwhelming, almost obsessive greenness that dominates perception, turning all colors into shades of green and symbolizing nature’s pervasive influence. **In simple terms:** Nature’s green overwhelms all color perception. Key Takeaway Observe how environments shape perception. Themes nature perception environment Mood evocative poetic Type literary descriptive When to use this quote - travel writing - environmental commentary - artistic observation Key Concepts ecology color theory immersive description Questions to Reflect On - How does environment alter your senses? - What does green symbolize for you? A Different Perspective May romanticize nature, ignoring ecological concerns. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Asia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/asia/) [Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/green/) [Green Greenness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/green-greenness-2383392/) [Greenness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/greenness-370819/) [Greenness Colour](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/greenness-colour-2383391/) [Jungle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/jungle/) [Landscapes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/landscapes/) [Rice Paddies](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rice-paddies-2383390/) [Seen Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/seen-green-1085243/) [Southeast asia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/southeast-asia/) [Travel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/travel/) [Travel writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/travel-writing/) [Verdant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/verdant-200715/) ## Related quotes > [Sir, when you have seen one green field, you have seen all green fields. Let us walk down Cheapside.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/sir-when-you-have-seen-one-green-field-you-have-seen-all-green-fields/) [Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/) > [People in Shanghai make a lot more money than the farmers in the rice paddies. The rice-paddy farmers are not buying Louis Vuitton bags,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-marino/people-in-shanghai-make-a-lot-more-money-than-the-farmers-in-the-rice/) [Peter Marino](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-marino/) > [“Everywhere I go, your beauty spills into my day. The trees were never this verdant. The birdsong never this sweet.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kamand-kojouri/everywhere-i-go-your-beauty-spills-into-my-day-the-trees-were-never/) [Kamand Kojouri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kamand-kojouri/) > [“The land looks flat from above, but these Chinese rice paddies are terraced for a better yield. Farmers have created these “steps” in China…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-land-looks-flat-from-above-but-these-chinese-rice-paddies-are/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“If you wish to make anything grow, you must understand it, and understand it in a very real sense. 'Green fingers' are a fact,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/russell-page/if-you-wish-to-make-anything-grow-you-must-understand-it-and/) [Russell Page](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/russell-page/) > [My mind was once the true survey Of all these meadows fresh and gay; And in the greenness of the grass Did see its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-marvell/my-mind-was-once-the-true-survey-of-all-these-meadows-fresh-and-gay/) [Andrew Marvell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-marvell/) > [The greenness of Ireland is a false greenness, after all. 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Lawrence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/d-h-lawrence-2/) ## More by Geoff Dyer > [I think I can recognize when a piece is at a state of completion. I always say to my wife, "Oh yeah, it's roughly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/geoff-dyer/i-think-i-can-recognize-when-a-piece-is-at-a-state-of-completion-i/) [Geoff Dyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/geoff-dyer/) > [“I've always liked things I can just trance out to. Because what that means is that you've escaped the chafe of time. Often when…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/geoff-dyer/i-ve-always-liked-things-i-can-just-trance-out-to-because-what-that/) [Geoff Dyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/geoff-dyer/) > [One of the reasons so many nonfiction books are so boring is because what they've done, very diligently, is fulfill the terms of their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/geoff-dyer/one-of-the-reasons-so-many-nonfiction-books-are-so-boring-is-because/) [Geoff Dyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/geoff-dyer/) > [I really like the George Clooney of Solaris also filmed by Andrei Tarkovsky, before Steven Soderbergh: that's very obviously sci-fi, and it seems to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/geoff-dyer/i-really-like-the-george-clooney-of-solaris-also-filmed-by-andrei/) [Geoff Dyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/geoff-dyer/) > [When you are lonely, writing can keep you company. 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And I know…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/geoff-dyer/i-would-agree-on-the-aging-thing-because-at-a-certain-point-once-you/) [Geoff Dyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/geoff-dyer/) > [If you help them (the crew) create good memories, they'll forget all the bad stuff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/geoff-dyer/if-you-help-them-the-crew-create-good-memories-they-ll-forget-all-the/) [Geoff Dyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/geoff-dyer/) > [“Photographers sometimes take pictures of each other; occasionally they take pictures of each other at work; more usually they take photographs - or versions…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/geoff-dyer/photographers-sometimes-take-pictures-of-each-other-occasionally-they/) [Geoff Dyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/geoff-dyer/) > [Have more than one idea on the go at any one time. If it's a choice between writing a book and doing nothing I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/geoff-dyer/have-more-than-one-idea-on-the-go-at-any-one-time-if-it-s-a-choice/) [Geoff Dyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/geoff-dyer/) > [I always like to be in the presence of people who are good at and love their jobs, Irrespective of their jobs.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/geoff-dyer/i-always-like-to-be-in-the-presence-of-people-who-are-good-at-and/) [Geoff Dyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/geoff-dyer/) > [“The paradox is that some of the most artistically valuable contemporary photographs are content with being photographs, are not under the same compulsion to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/geoff-dyer/the-paradox-is-that-some-of-the-most-artistically-valuable/) [Geoff Dyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/geoff-dyer/) > [“So far I’ve only read a page but I like that page a lot.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/geoff-dyer/so-far-i-ve-only-read-a-page-but-i-like-that-page-a-lot/) [Geoff Dyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/geoff-dyer/) > [What I'm really interested in, as a reader and as a writer, is the idea of the nonfiction book that is not defined by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/geoff-dyer/what-i-m-really-interested-in-as-a-reader-and-as-a-writer-is-the-idea/) [Geoff Dyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/geoff-dyer/) [Explore all 76 Geoff Dyer quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/geoff-dyer/) ## More Asia quotes > [Firstly, economic globalisation has brought prosperity and development to many countries, but also financial crises to Asia, Latin America and Russia, and increasing poverty…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-lindh/firstly-economic-globalisation-has-brought-prosperity-and-development/) [Anna Lindh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-lindh/) > [We have reiterated on many occasions that China wishes to establish and develop long-term, good-neighbourly and friendly relations with all countries in south Asia.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/li-peng/we-have-reiterated-on-many-occasions-that-china-wishes-to-establish/) [Li Peng](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/li-peng/) > [So-called Western Civilization, as practised in half of Europe, some of Asia and a few parts of North America, is better than anything else…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/p-j-o-rourke/so-called-western-civilization-as-practised-in-half-of-europe-some-of/) [P. 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Ott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hermann-e-ott/) [Browse all 770 Asia quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/asia/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“We'd never seen anything as green as these rice paddies. It was not just the paddies themselves: the surrounding vegetation - foliage so dense the trees lost track of whose leaves were whose - was a rainbow coalition of one colour: green. There was an infinity of greens, rendered all the greener by splashes of red hibiscus and the herons floating past, so white and big it seemed as if sheets hung out to dry had suddenly taken wing. All other colours - even purple and black - were shades of green. Light and shade were degrees of green. Greenness, here, was less a colour than a colonising impulse. Everything was either already green - like a snake, bright as a blade of grass, sidling across the footpath - or in the process of becoming so. 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