--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: People who think of themselves as exiles…" description: "\"People who think of themselves as exiles, I find, can never really put their lives together, really.\" — Jane Jacobs" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/40c/jane-jacobs-1991_exile_people-who-think-of-themselves-as-exiles_1763374.png" --- # People who think of themselves as exiles, I find, can… ![“People who think of themselves as exiles, I find, can never really put their lives together, really.” quote by Jane Jacobs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/40c/jane-jacobs-1991_exile_people-who-think-of-themselves-as-exiles_1763374.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/40c/jane-jacobs-1991_exile_people-who-think-of-themselves-as-exiles_1763374.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/40c/jane-jacobs-1991_exile_people-who-think-of-themselves-as-exiles_1763374.png) > “People who think of themselves as exiles, I find, can never really put their lives together, really.” [Jane Jacobs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-jacobs/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Feeling exiled prevents cohesive life planning and personal stability. **In simple terms:** Exile mindset hinders life building. Key Takeaway Seek community rather than isolation. Themes identity belonging stability Mood reflective thoughtful Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - personal relationships - career planning - mental health - community building Key Concepts Urban sociology psychology Questions to Reflect On - How does self‑exile affect your goals? - Can you reframe exile as a choice? A Different Perspective Exile can be a conscious, empowering choice for some. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Exile](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/exile/) [Exiles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/exiles/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Life together](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life-together/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) ## Related quotes > [No matter where I go or what title I may achieve, I will always be the son of exiles.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marco-rubio/no-matter-where-i-go-or-what-title-i-may-achieve-i-will-always-be-the/) [Marco Rubio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marco-rubio/) > [People who feel themselves to be exiles in this world are mightily inclined to believe themselves citizens of another.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/people-who-feel-themselves-to-be-exiles-in-this-world-are-mightily/) [George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) > [“A place where exiles gather to talk of passion.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joanna-quinn/a-place-where-exiles-gather-to-talk-of-passion/) Joanna Quinn > [The mere passage of time makes us all exiles.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joyce-carol-oates/the-mere-passage-of-time-makes-us-all-exiles/) [Joyce Carol Oates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joyce-carol-oates/) > [A person can only be born in one place. However, he may die several times elsewhere: in the exiles and prisons, and in a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahmoud-darwish/a-person-can-only-be-born-in-one-place-however-he-may-die-several/) [Mahmoud Darwish](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahmoud-darwish/) > [We were exiles from reality that summer. We were refugees from ourselves.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-cleave/we-were-exiles-from-reality-that-summer-we-were-refugees-from/) [Chris Cleave](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-cleave/) > [“In all memory there is a degree of fallenness; we are all exiles from our own pasts, just as, on looking up from a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lanchester/in-all-memory-there-is-a-degree-of-fallenness-we-are-all-exiles-from/) [John Lanchester](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lanchester/) > [All exiles carry a map within them that points the way homeward.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacqueline-carey/all-exiles-carry-a-map-within-them-that-points-the-way-homeward/) [Jacqueline Carey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacqueline-carey/) > [Most drama in our lives is really rather squalid.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-baker/most-drama-in-our-lives-is-really-rather-squalid/) [Tom Baker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-baker/) > [“No matter how much you think you know a person—no matter how pretty they act, or how popular they seem, you can never know…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jess-rothenberg/no-matter-how-much-you-think-you-know-a-person-no-matter-how-pretty/) [Jess Rothenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jess-rothenberg/) > [“How well can we really know another person? People can be in your lives for years- they can fill your lives. But all you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/danielle-ganek/how-well-can-we-really-know-another-person-people-can-be-in-your/) [Danielle Ganek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/danielle-ganek/) > [There is love in this world, and it lives within us as who we really are, not who we think we are.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/krishna-das/there-is-love-in-this-world-and-it-lives-within-us-as-who-we-really/) [Krishna Das](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/krishna-das/) > [We all have movies for times in our lives when we really need something.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-jenkins/we-all-have-movies-for-times-in-our-lives-when-we-really-need/) [Richard Jenkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-jenkins/) > [When you play a daily soap character that character lives with you for a really long time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jasmin-bhasin/when-you-play-a-daily-soap-character-that-character-lives-with-you/) [Jasmin Bhasin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jasmin-bhasin/) > [“We are all exiles from our past , and, as such, we need to recapture it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/esther-salaman/we-are-all-exiles-from-our-past-and-as-such-we-need-to-recapture-it/) Esther Salaman ## More by Jane Jacobs > [People who try to predict the future by extrapolating in a line of more of what exists - they are always wrong.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-jacobs/people-who-try-to-predict-the-future-by-extrapolating-in-a-line-of/) [Jane Jacobs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-jacobs/) > [My mother used to say when we were children, 'When a boy gets a stick in his hand, his brains run out the other…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-jacobs/my-mother-used-to-say-when-we-were-children-when-a-boy-gets-a-stick/) [Jane Jacobs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-jacobs/) > [Design is people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-jacobs/design-is-people/) [Jane Jacobs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-jacobs/) > [To approach a city, or even a city neighborhood, as if it were a larger architectural problem, capable of being given order by converting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-jacobs/to-approach-a-city-or-even-a-city-neighborhood-as-if-it-were-a-larger/) [Jane Jacobs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-jacobs/) > [Cities need old buildings so badly it is probably impossible for vigorous streets and districts to grow without them… for really new ideas of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-jacobs/cities-need-old-buildings-so-badly-it-is-probably-impossible-for/) [Jane Jacobs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-jacobs/) > [The notion that you could discard the old world and now make a new one. This is what was so bad about Modernism.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-jacobs/the-notion-that-you-could-discard-the-old-world-and-now-make-a-new/) [Jane Jacobs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-jacobs/) > [Cities are an immense laboratory of trial and error, failure and success, in city building and city design.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-jacobs/cities-are-an-immense-laboratory-of-trial-and-error-failure-and/) [Jane Jacobs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-jacobs/) > [“Development isn't a collection of things but rather a process that yields things. Not knowing this, governments, their development and aid agencies, the World…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-jacobs/development-isn-t-a-collection-of-things-but-rather-a-process-that/) [Jane Jacobs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-jacobs/) > [“Most sentimental ideas imply, at bottom, a deep if unacknowledged disrespect.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-jacobs/most-sentimental-ideas-imply-at-bottom-a-deep-if-unacknowledged/) [Jane Jacobs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-jacobs/) > [Beneficent spirals, operating by benign feedback, mean that everything needful is not required at once: each individual improvement is beneficial for the whole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-jacobs/beneficent-spirals-operating-by-benign-feedback-mean-that-everything/) [Jane Jacobs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-jacobs/) > [Automobiles are often conveniently tagged as the villains responsible for the ills of cities and the disappointments and futilities of city planning. But the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-jacobs/automobiles-are-often-conveniently-tagged-as-the-villains-responsible/) [Jane Jacobs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-jacobs/) > [“I tis hopeless to try to convert some borders into seams. Expressways and their ramps are examples. Moreover, even in the case of large…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-jacobs/i-tis-hopeless-to-try-to-convert-some-borders-into-seams-expressways/) [Jane Jacobs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-jacobs/) > [“Probably the most important element in intricacy is centering. Good small parks typically have a place somewhere within them commonly understood to be the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-jacobs/probably-the-most-important-element-in-intricacy-is-centering-good/) [Jane Jacobs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-jacobs/) > [Throughout the world Dark Ages have scrawled finis to successions of cultures receding far into the past.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-jacobs/throughout-the-world-dark-ages-have-scrawled-finis-to-successions-of/) [Jane Jacobs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-jacobs/) > [“Privacy is precious in cities. It is indispensable. Perhaps it is precious and indispensable everywhere, but in most places you cannot get it. In…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-jacobs/privacy-is-precious-in-cities-it-is-indispensable-perhaps-it-is/) [Jane Jacobs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-jacobs/) [Explore all 193 Jane Jacobs quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-jacobs/) ## More Exile quotes > [Were you indeed not blinded by the Curse Of Self-exile, that still grows worse and worse, Yourselves would know that, though you see him…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/farid-al-din-attar/were-you-indeed-not-blinded-by-the-curse-of-self-exile-that-still/) [Farid al-Din Attar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/farid-al-din-attar/) > [What can my enemies do to me? My paradise is in my heart, it is with me wherever I go. To imprison me is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ibn-taymiyyah/what-can-my-enemies-do-to-me-my-paradise-is-in-my-heart-it-is-with-me/) [Ibn Taymiyyah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ibn-taymiyyah/) > [To live is to hurt others, and through others, to hurt oneself. Cruel earth! How can we manage not to touch anything? To find…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-camus/to-live-is-to-hurt-others-and-through-others-to-hurt-oneself-cruel/) [Albert Camus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-camus/) > [I had severed relations with the Romanian exiles who had become politically conservative and even extremely right wing; I was giving chess lessons to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dumitru-tepeneag/i-had-severed-relations-with-the-romanian-exiles-who-had-become/) [Dumitru Tepeneag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dumitru-tepeneag/) > [They came to know the incorrigible sorrow of all prisoners and exiles, which is to live in company with a memory that serves no…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-camus/they-came-to-know-the-incorrigible-sorrow-of-all-prisoners-and-exiles/) [Albert Camus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-camus/) > [Independence didn't have to be exile.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julia-alvarez/independence-didn-t-have-to-be-exile/) [Julia Alvarez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julia-alvarez/) > [In our culture of constant access and nonstop media, nothing feels more like a curse from God than time in the wilderness. To be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-martin/in-our-culture-of-constant-access-and-nonstop-media-nothing-feels/) [Jonathan Martin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-martin/) > [“The growth of his power and fame was matched, in my imagination, by the degree of the punishment I would have liked to inflict…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nabokov-i-tyrants-destroyed-i/the-growth-of-his-power-and-fame-was-matched-in-my-imagination-by-the/) Nabokov i Tyrants Destroyed i > [I turned what was a wonderful case of self-reliance into a case of self-exile. Which is not uncommon, I think, in people who grow…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leigh-newman/i-turned-what-was-a-wonderful-case-of-self-reliance-into-a-case-of/) [Leigh Newman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leigh-newman/) > [Humor is widely used by Indians to deal with life. Indian gatherings are marked by laughter and jokes, many directed at the horrors of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paula-gunn-allen/humor-is-widely-used-by-indians-to-deal-with-life-indian-gatherings/) [Paula Gunn Allen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paula-gunn-allen/) > [The Gnostics believed that exile was the essential condition of man. Do you agree? I do. The artist and the addict both wrestle with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-pressfield/the-gnostics-believed-that-exile-was-the-essential-condition-of-man/) [Steven Pressfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pressfield/) > [The perpetuation of slavery, the exile and extermination of American Indians, and the passage of Jim Crow laws weren't carried out at the bidding…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/p-j-o-rourke/the-perpetuation-of-slavery-the-exile-and-extermination-of-american/) [P. J. O'Rourke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/p-j-o-rourke/) > [In New York City, everyone is an exile, none more so than the Americans.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlotte-perkins-gilman/in-new-york-city-everyone-is-an-exile-none-more-so-than-the-americans/) [Charlotte Perkins Gilman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlotte-perkins-gilman/) > [I have always seen the Clinton Foundation - yes, they do a lot of charitable good works. But by my lights, the charitable good…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonah-goldberg/i-have-always-seen-the-clinton-foundation-yes-they-do-a-lot-of/) [Jonah Goldberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonah-goldberg/) > [We live in an era where masses of people come and go across a hostile planet, desolate and violent. Refugees, emigrants, exiles, deportees. We…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-allende/we-live-in-an-era-where-masses-of-people-come-and-go-across-a-hostile/) [Isabel Allende](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-allende/) [Browse all 512 Exile quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/exile/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "People who think of themselves as exiles, I find, can never really put their lives together, really.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Jane Jacobs" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-jacobs/people-who-think-of-themselves-as-exiles-i-find-can-never-really-put/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Exile" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-jacobs/people-who-think-of-themselves-as-exiles-i-find-can-never-really-put/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/40c/jane-jacobs-1991_exile_people-who-think-of-themselves-as-exiles_1763374.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/40c/jane-jacobs-1991_exile_people-who-think-of-themselves-as-exiles_1763374.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/40c/jane-jacobs-1991_exile_people-who-think-of-themselves-as-exiles_1763374.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“People who think of themselves as exiles, I find, can never really put their lives together, really.” — Jane Jacobs", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Jane Jacobs", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-jacobs/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "People who think of themselves as...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-jacobs/people-who-think-of-themselves-as-exiles-i-find-can-never-really-put/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-jacobs/people-who-think-of-themselves-as-exiles-i-find-can-never-really-put/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```