Fresh water Quote by Ian McEwan
““Standing here, as immune to the cold as a marble statue, gazing towards Charlotte Street, towards a foreshortened jumble of façades, scaffolding and pitched roofs, Henry thinks the city is a success, a brilliant invention, a biological masterpiece--millions teeming around the accumulated and layered achievements of the centuries, as though around a coral reef, sleeping, working, entertaining themselves, harmonious for the most part, nearly everyone wanting it to work. And the Perownes own corner, a triumph of congruent proportion; the perfect square laid out by Robert Adam enclosing a perfect circle of garden--an eighteenth century dream bathed and embraced by modernity, by street light from above, and from below by fibre-optic cables, and cool fresh water coursing down pipes, and sewage borne away in an instant of forgetting.””
About This Quote
Source Novel: Saturday by Ian McEwan, 2005
Describes a city as a living, layered organism, celebrating its complexity and harmony despite imperfections.
In simple terms: City as a living masterpiece.
Key Takeaway
Appreciate urban complexity.
Themes
urbanism
beauty
complexity
history
community
Mood
contemplative
appreciative
Type
literary
descriptive
When to use this quote
- city planning
- tourism
- cultural festivals
- daily commute
Key Concepts
architecture
social ecology
human experience
Questions to Reflect On
- How does urban design affect community well‑being?
- What tensions exist between historic preservation and modern needs?
A Different Perspective
May romanticize cities, ignoring systemic issues.
![“4. Man is neither Good-natured nor Bad-natured according to Su Shih (So-shoku).[FN#164] The difficulty may be avoided by a theory given by Su Shih and other scholars influenced by Buddhism, which maintains that man is neither good-natured nor bad-natured. According to this opinion man is not moral…” quote by Kaiten Nukariya](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/83c/kaiten-nukariya-793_buddhism_4-man-is-neither-good-natured-nor-bad-na_100937.jpg)
