Bureaucracy Quote by Jack Kerouac
“When you start separating people from their rivers, what have you got? Bureaucracy!”
About This Quote
Source Poem: “Bureaucracy” from The Beat Generation Anthology, 1959
Suggests that dividing natural resources creates oppressive bureaucratic systems.
In simple terms: Splitting rivers creates bureaucracy.
Key Takeaway
Protect shared resources.
Themes
environment
power
control
Mood
reflective
critical
Type
philosophical
inspirational
When to use this quote
- urban planning
- water management
- environmental activism
Key Concepts
political ecology
institutional critique
Questions to Reflect On
- How does resource division affect freedom?
- Can bureaucracy be reformed?
A Different Perspective
Bureaucracy may also provide necessary organization.
![“[The Utopia of Rules] should offer a challenge to us all. Should we just accept this bureaucracy as inevitable? Or is there a way to get rid of all those hours spent listening to bad call-centre music? Do policemen, academics, teachers and doctors really need to spend half their time filling in…” quote by Gillian Tett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/223/gillian-tett-57286_accepting_the-utopia-of-rules-should-offer-a-chall_39418.jpg)
![“When the fountains of government [borrowing] abundance began to dry up, when through lack of funds and the impossibility of negotiating fresh loans the state was forced to check the extension of bureaucracy and to put a stop to public works, then and then only did the Italians realize what it…” quote by John T. Flynn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/908/john-t-flynn-18493_abundance_when-the-fountains-of-government-borrowi_2663.jpg)
