--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: There are only two rules. One is E. M…" description: "\"There are only two rules. One is E. M. Forster's guide to Alexandria; the best way to know Alexandria is to wander aimlessly. The second is from the Ps..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a3e/jan-morris-13073_alexandria_there-are-only-two-rules-one-is-e-m-fors_1619313.jpg" --- # There are only two rules. One is E. M. Forster's guide to… ![“There are only two rules. One is E. M. Forster's guide to Alexandria; the best way to know Alexandria is to wander aimlessly. The second is from the Psalms; grin like a dog and run about through the city.” quote by Jan Morris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a3e/jan-morris-13073_alexandria_there-are-only-two-rules-one-is-e-m-fors_1619313.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a3e/jan-morris-13073_alexandria_there-are-only-two-rules-one-is-e-m-fors_1619313.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a3e/jan-morris-13073_alexandria_there-are-only-two-rules-one-is-e-m-fors_1619313.jpg) > “There are only two rules. One is E. M. Forster's guide to Alexandria; the best way to know Alexandria is to wander aimlessly. The second is from the Psalms; grin like a dog and run about through the city.” [Jan Morris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jan-morris/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Wandering without purpose and embracing joy are essential ways to truly experience a city. **In simple terms:** Wander and be joyful. Key Takeaway Explore freely and enjoy the city. Themes exploration joy city life spontaneity freedom Mood playful adventurous curious Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - tourist itineraries - walking tours - spontaneous street festivals - personal travel blogs Key Concepts psychology of travel urban experience mindful wandering Questions to Reflect On - What does aimless wandering reveal about a city? - How does joy change your perception of urban spaces? A Different Perspective Wandering aimlessly may lead to safety concerns or missed opportunities. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Alexandria](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/alexandria/) [Best way](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/best-way/) [Cities](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cities/) [Dog](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dog/) [Psalms](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/psalms/) [Running](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/running/) [Travel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/travel/) ## Related quotes > [Constantinople was the principal seat and fortress of Arianism; and, in a long interval of forty years, the faith of the princes and prelates…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-gibbon/constantinople-was-the-principal-seat-and-fortress-of-arianism-and-in/) [Edward Gibbon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-gibbon/) > [“ Euclid 's Elements has been for nearly twenty-two centuries the encouragement and guide of that scientific thought which is one thing with the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-kingdon-clifford/euclid-s-elements-has-been-for-nearly-twenty-two-centuries-the/) [William Kingdon Clifford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-kingdon-clifford/) > [“All was not lost when the Library at Alexandria was burned”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-wallace-maguire/all-was-not-lost-when-the-library-at-alexandria-was-burned/) Mark Wallace Maguire > [The valuable library of Alexandria was pillaged or destroyed; and near twenty years afterwards, the appearance of the empty shelves excited the regret and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-gibbon/the-valuable-library-of-alexandria-was-pillaged-or-destroyed-and-near/) [Edward Gibbon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-gibbon/) > [“The oranges were more plentiful than usual that year. They glowed in their arbours of burnished green leaf like lanterns, flickering up there among…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lawrence-durrell/the-oranges-were-more-plentiful-than-usual-that-year-they-glowed-in/) [Lawrence Durrell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lawrence-durrell/) > [At that time the archiepiscopal throne of Alexandria was filled by Theophilus, the perpetual enemy of peace and virtue; a bold, bad man, whose…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-gibbon/at-that-time-the-archiepiscopal-throne-of-alexandria-was-filled-by/) [Edward Gibbon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-gibbon/) > [The George Washington Masonic National Memorial is a fitting tribute to so great a man and Mason. Its message should be as prominent in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-clausen/the-george-washington-masonic-national-memorial-is-a-fitting-tribute/) [Henry Clausen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-clausen/) > [“They say that Caliph Omar, when consulted about what had to be done with the library of Alexandria, answered as follows: 'If the books…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-jacques-rousseau/they-say-that-caliph-omar-when-consulted-about-what-had-to-be-done/) [Jean-Jacques Rousseau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-jacques-rousseau/) > [“I'd be supper-pissed in the afterlife if I died a virgin in this crap hole.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jennifer-l-armentrout/i-d-be-supper-pissed-in-the-afterlife-if-i-died-a-virgin-in-this-crap/) [Jennifer L. Armentrout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jennifer-l-armentrout/) > [“Philo of Alexandria,”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sara-lewis-holmes/philo-of-alexandria/) Sara Lewis Holmes > [Even though I'm on my own, I know I'm not alone, because I know there's someone somewhere, praying that I make it home. Someone…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/even-though-i-m-on-my-own-i-know-i-m-not-alone-because-i-know-there-s/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [To accept the story of the Arab destruction of the library of Alexandria, one must explain how it is that so dramatic an event…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernard-lewis/to-accept-the-story-of-the-arab-destruction-of-the-library-of/) [Bernard Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernard-lewis/) > [“Alexandria was "the single place on earth where all the knowledge in the entire world was gathered together -- every great play and poem,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-rogers/alexandria-was-the-single-place-on-earth-where-all-the-knowledge-in/) [Adam Rogers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-rogers/) > [I was held in the Mazra Tora Prison for my role as leader of the pan-Islamist organisation Hizb ut-Tahrir in Alexandria.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maajid-nawaz/i-was-held-in-the-mazra-tora-prison-for-my-role-as-leader-of-the-pan/) [Maajid Nawaz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maajid-nawaz/) > [“Given this appalling social climate, the new Library of Alexandria, built at a cost of $230 million in an attempt to revive its fabled…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-r-bradley/given-this-appalling-social-climate-the-new-library-of-alexandria/) [John R. Bradley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-r-bradley/) ## More by Jan Morris > [Kashmir has always been more than a mere place. It has the quality of an experience, or a state of mind, or perhaps an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jan-morris/kashmir-has-always-been-more-than-a-mere-place-it-has-the-quality-of/) [Jan Morris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jan-morris/) > [To me gender is not physical at all, but is altogether insubstantial. It is soul, perhaps, it is talent, it is taste, it is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jan-morris/to-me-gender-is-not-physical-at-all-but-is-altogether-insubstantial/) [Jan Morris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jan-morris/) > [“There are people everywhere who form a Fourth World, or a diaspora of their own. They are the lordly ones! They come in all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jan-morris/there-are-people-everywhere-who-form-a-fourth-world-or-a-diaspora-of/) [Jan Morris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jan-morris/) > [I’ve become obsessed with the idea of reconciliation, particularly reconciliation with nature but with people too, of course. I think that travel has been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jan-morris/i-ve-become-obsessed-with-the-idea-of-reconciliation-particularly/) [Jan Morris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jan-morris/) > [“Certainly Delhi is unimaginably antique, and age is a metaphysic, I suppose. Illustrations of mortality are inescapable there, and do give the place a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jan-morris/certainly-delhi-is-unimaginably-antique-and-age-is-a-metaphysic-i/) [Jan Morris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jan-morris/) > [“I accept the idea of helping men, and of being cherished by them. I’ve always had that feeling. If I could have my life…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jan-morris/i-accept-the-idea-of-helping-men-and-of-being-cherished-by-them-i-ve/) [Jan Morris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jan-morris/) > [Book lovers will understand me, and they will know too that part of the pleasure of a library lies in its very existence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jan-morris/book-lovers-will-understand-me-and-they-will-know-too-that-part-of/) [Jan Morris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jan-morris/) > [Leningrad ... is a city with the gift of timelessness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jan-morris/leningrad-is-a-city-with-the-gift-of-timelessness/) [Jan Morris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jan-morris/) > [“Few conversations, at any time of life, are more stimulating, more spontaneous and more genuinely original than those long ridiculous talks we all have,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jan-morris/few-conversations-at-any-time-of-life-are-more-stimulating-more/) [Jan Morris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jan-morris/) > [“In a Kenya game park once I saw a family of wart-hogs waddling ungainly and in a tremendous hurry across the grass. Contemptuous though…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jan-morris/in-a-kenya-game-park-once-i-saw-a-family-of-wart-hogs-waddling/) [Jan Morris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jan-morris/) > [Its smallness is not petty; on the contrary, it is profound.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jan-morris/its-smallness-is-not-petty-on-the-contrary-it-is-profound/) [Jan Morris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jan-morris/) > [Movement was the essence of Manhattan. It had always been so, and now its sense of flow, energy, openness, elasticity as Charles Dickens had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jan-morris/movement-was-the-essence-of-manhattan-it-had-always-been-so-and-now/) [Jan Morris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jan-morris/) > [“This was my introduction to mountaineering, and clumsy indeed were my movements as we moved off.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jan-morris/this-was-my-introduction-to-mountaineering-and-clumsy-indeed-were-my/) [Jan Morris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jan-morris/) > [if there is one place in the United States where private styles make up for public images, it is San Francisco, where all lapsed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jan-morris/if-there-is-one-place-in-the-united-states-where-private-styles-make/) [Jan Morris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jan-morris/) > [Wherever you go in life, you will feel somewhere over your shoulder a pink, castellated shimmering presence, the domes and riggings and crooked pinacles…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jan-morris/wherever-you-go-in-life-you-will-feel-somewhere-over-your-shoulder-a/) [Jan Morris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jan-morris/) [Explore all 52 Jan Morris quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jan-morris/) ## More Alexandria quotes > [Constantinople was the principal seat and fortress of Arianism; and, in a long interval of forty years, the faith of the princes and prelates…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-gibbon/constantinople-was-the-principal-seat-and-fortress-of-arianism-and-in/) [Edward Gibbon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-gibbon/) > [I was held in the Mazra Tora Prison for my role as leader of the pan-Islamist organisation Hizb ut-Tahrir in Alexandria.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maajid-nawaz/i-was-held-in-the-mazra-tora-prison-for-my-role-as-leader-of-the-pan/) [Maajid Nawaz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maajid-nawaz/) > [“Alexandria was "the single place on earth where all the knowledge in the entire world was gathered together -- every great play and poem,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-rogers/alexandria-was-the-single-place-on-earth-where-all-the-knowledge-in/) [Adam Rogers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-rogers/) > [To accept the story of the Arab destruction of the library of Alexandria, one must explain how it is that so dramatic an event…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernard-lewis/to-accept-the-story-of-the-arab-destruction-of-the-library-of/) [Bernard Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernard-lewis/) > [Even though I'm on my own, I know I'm not alone, because I know there's someone somewhere, praying that I make it home. Someone…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/even-though-i-m-on-my-own-i-know-i-m-not-alone-because-i-know-there-s/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“Philo of Alexandria,”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sara-lewis-holmes/philo-of-alexandria/) Sara Lewis Holmes > [“I'd be supper-pissed in the afterlife if I died a virgin in this crap hole.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jennifer-l-armentrout/i-d-be-supper-pissed-in-the-afterlife-if-i-died-a-virgin-in-this-crap/) [Jennifer L. Armentrout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jennifer-l-armentrout/) > [“They say that Caliph Omar, when consulted about what had to be done with the library of Alexandria, answered as follows: 'If the books…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-jacques-rousseau/they-say-that-caliph-omar-when-consulted-about-what-had-to-be-done/) [Jean-Jacques Rousseau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-jacques-rousseau/) > [The George Washington Masonic National Memorial is a fitting tribute to so great a man and Mason. Its message should be as prominent in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-clausen/the-george-washington-masonic-national-memorial-is-a-fitting-tribute/) [Henry Clausen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-clausen/) > [At that time the archiepiscopal throne of Alexandria was filled by Theophilus, the perpetual enemy of peace and virtue; a bold, bad man, whose…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-gibbon/at-that-time-the-archiepiscopal-throne-of-alexandria-was-filled-by/) [Edward Gibbon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-gibbon/) > [“The oranges were more plentiful than usual that year. They glowed in their arbours of burnished green leaf like lanterns, flickering up there among…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lawrence-durrell/the-oranges-were-more-plentiful-than-usual-that-year-they-glowed-in/) [Lawrence Durrell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lawrence-durrell/) > [The valuable library of Alexandria was pillaged or destroyed; and near twenty years afterwards, the appearance of the empty shelves excited the regret and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-gibbon/the-valuable-library-of-alexandria-was-pillaged-or-destroyed-and-near/) [Edward Gibbon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-gibbon/) > [“All was not lost when the Library at Alexandria was burned”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-wallace-maguire/all-was-not-lost-when-the-library-at-alexandria-was-burned/) Mark Wallace Maguire > [“ Euclid 's Elements has been for nearly twenty-two centuries the encouragement and guide of that scientific thought which is one thing with the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-kingdon-clifford/euclid-s-elements-has-been-for-nearly-twenty-two-centuries-the/) [William Kingdon Clifford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-kingdon-clifford/) > [“Given this appalling social climate, the new Library of Alexandria, built at a cost of $230 million in an attempt to revive its fabled…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-r-bradley/given-this-appalling-social-climate-the-new-library-of-alexandria/) [John R. Bradley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-r-bradley/) [Browse all 66 Alexandria quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/alexandria/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "There are only two rules. One is E. M. Forster's guide to Alexandria; the best way to know Alexandria is to wander aimlessly. 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