--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I know people who are so immersed in road…" description: "\"I know people who are so immersed in road maps that they never see the countryside they pass through, and others who, having traced a route, are held t..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/30b/john-steinbeck-71_countryside_i-know-people-who-are-so-immersed-in-roa_1096126.jpg" --- # I know people who are so immersed in road maps that they… ![“I know people who are so immersed in road maps that they never see the countryside they pass through, and others who, having traced a route, are held to it as though held by flanged wheels to rails.” quote by John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/30b/john-steinbeck-71_countryside_i-know-people-who-are-so-immersed-in-roa_1096126.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/30b/john-steinbeck-71_countryside_i-know-people-who-are-so-immersed-in-roa_1096126.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/30b/john-steinbeck-71_countryside_i-know-people-who-are-so-immersed-in-roa_1096126.jpg) > “I know people who are so immersed in road maps that they never see the countryside they pass through, and others who, having traced a route, are held to it as though held by flanged wheels to rails.” [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. He contrasts people who obsess over plans with those who follow them rigidly, missing the surrounding experiences. **In simple terms:** People miss scenery when fixated on routes. Key Takeaway Balance planning with present awareness. Themes mindfulness travel perspective Mood thoughtful insightful Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - road trips - career planning - project management Key Concepts goal‑orientation rigidity Questions to Reflect On - How can you stay flexible? - What joys arise from spontaneous moments? A Different Perspective Over‑planning can cause anxiety. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Countryside](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/countryside/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [Road map](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/road-map/) [Road maps](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/road-maps/) [Routes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/routes/) [Travel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/travel/) ## Related quotes > [A gift, like a good friend drawing a personal road map out of the crazy busy swirl of our overloaded lives.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brigid-schulte/a-gift-like-a-good-friend-drawing-a-personal-road-map-out-of-the/) [Brigid Schulte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brigid-schulte/) > [Orville Schell and John Delury have delivered a brilliantly original and essential book: the road map to China’s quest for national salvation... Vivid, literate,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/evan-osnos/orville-schell-and-john-delury-have-delivered-a-brilliantly-original/) [Evan Osnos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/evan-osnos/) > [I don't have a road map and I'm not a goal oriented person in the sense that, you know, I have nothing in front…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rush-limbaugh/i-don-t-have-a-road-map-and-i-m-not-a-goal-oriented-person-in-the/) [Rush Limbaugh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rush-limbaugh/) > [The civilization you sit in ... is now obvious in crisis, perhaps death pangs, twisting grotesquely like a dying animal, swirling down the garbage…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-kreeft/the-civilization-you-sit-in-is-now-obvious-in-crisis-perhaps-death/) [Peter Kreeft](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-kreeft/) > [The ancient Greek philosopher Epictetus taught his students that what happens to them is not as important as what they believe happens to them.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanley-krippner/the-ancient-greek-philosopher-epictetus-taught-his-students-that-what/) [Stanley Krippner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanley-krippner/) > [Leaders have to figure it out when there is no road map.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-hybels/leaders-have-to-figure-it-out-when-there-is-no-road-map/) [Bill Hybels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-hybels/) > [Sharon has subverted the whole process by turning it into something sequential and conditional and, of course, by making himself the interpreter of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hanan-ashrawi/sharon-has-subverted-the-whole-process-by-turning-it-into-something/) [Hanan Ashrawi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hanan-ashrawi/) > [We plan our lives in long, unbroken stretches that intersect our dreams the way highways connect the city dots on a road map. 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Vernon McGee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-vernon-mcgee/) > [The opportunities of the twenty-first century make those of us who care about cities feel like kids in a candy store: How will cities…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/greg-nickels/the-opportunities-of-the-twenty-first-century-make-those-of-us-who/) [Greg Nickels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/greg-nickels/) > [“Our losses become the road maps for our future.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jill-bialosky/our-losses-become-the-road-maps-for-our-future/) [Jill Bialosky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jill-bialosky/) > [No sane person wants hell to exist. No sane person wants evil to exist. But hell is just evil eternalized. If there is evil…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-kreeft/no-sane-person-wants-hell-to-exist-no-sane-person-wants-evil-to-exist/) [Peter Kreeft](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-kreeft/) > [If you don't know where you are going, then how will you get there? VISUALISE! Make pictures in your mind. See the desination. Imagine…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bryce-courtenay/if-you-don-t-know-where-you-are-going-then-how-will-you-get-there/) [Bryce Courtenay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bryce-courtenay/) ## More by John Steinbeck > [ Teaching might even be the greatest of the arts since the medium is the human mind and spirit. My three \[great teachers\] did not… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/teaching-might-even-be-the-greatest-of-the-arts-since-the-medium-is/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) > [Prayer never brought in no side-meat. Takes a shoat to bring in pork.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/prayer-never-brought-in-no-side-meat-takes-a-shoat-to-bring-in-pork/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) > [“And now submarines are armed with mass murder, our silly, only way of deterring mass murder.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/and-now-submarines-are-armed-with-mass-murder-our-silly-only-way-of/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) > [“I’d think there are degrees of greatness,” Adam said. “I don’t think so,” said Samuel. “That would be like saying there is a little…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/i-d-think-there-are-degrees-of-greatness-adam-said-i-don-t-think-so/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) > [“He was forever inventing a new way of doing an old thing and doing it better and quicker, but he never in his whole…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/he-was-forever-inventing-a-new-way-of-doing-an-old-thing-and-doing-it/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) > [“You come back a changed man. 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Feed a man, clothe him, put him in a good house,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/i-have-noticed-that-there-is-no-dissatisfaction-like-that-of-the-rich/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) > [“Who in his mind has not probe the dark water?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/who-in-his-mind-has-not-probe-the-dark-water/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) > [Sometimes, a lie is told in kindness. I don't believe it ever works kindly. The quick pain of truth can pass away, but the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/sometimes-a-lie-is-told-in-kindness-i-don-t-believe-it-ever-works/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) > [People like you to be something, preferably what they are.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/people-like-you-to-be-something-preferably-what-they-are/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) > [“Suddenly he knew joy and sorrow felted into one fabric. Courage and fear were one thing too. He found that he had started to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/suddenly-he-knew-joy-and-sorrow-felted-into-one-fabric-courage-and/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) > [I am writing this from what we Americans call Yurrp. In Yurrp writers are taken as seriously as Lana Turner's legs are in America…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/i-am-writing-this-from-what-we-americans-call-yurrp-in-yurrp-writers/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) > [I write because I like to write. I find joy in the texture and tone and rhythm of words. It is a satisfaction like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/i-write-because-i-like-to-write-i-find-joy-in-the-texture-and-tone/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) [Explore all 1,589 John Steinbeck quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) ## More Countryside quotes > [Two things revolutionised life: moving to the countryside and falling in love.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nick-love/two-things-revolutionised-life-moving-to-the-countryside-and-falling/) [Nick Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nick-love/) > [“In East Sussex, let us say, an old farm sleeps in sun-dapple, its oast-house with its cowls echoing the distant steeple of SS Andrew…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/g-m-w-wemyss/in-east-sussex-let-us-say-an-old-farm-sleeps-in-sun-dapple-its-oast/) [G.M.W. Wemyss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/g-m-w-wemyss/) > [I always go for walks in the countryside.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-bellamy/i-always-go-for-walks-in-the-countryside/) [Matt Bellamy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-bellamy/) > [It's often frustrating when you're a war reporter and you're covering these places that far away. You're frustrated by making stories that people can't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-rowley/it-s-often-frustrating-when-you-re-a-war-reporter-and-you-re-covering/) [Rick Rowley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-rowley/) > [My brother and I were brought up outdoors. We appreciate the countryside; we appreciate nature and everything about it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/prince-harry/my-brother-and-i-were-brought-up-outdoors-we-appreciate-the/) [Prince Harry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/prince-harry/) > [You are worried about what man has done and is doing to this magical planet that God gave us. And I share your concern.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ronald-reagan/you-are-worried-about-what-man-has-done-and-is-doing-to-this-magical/) [Ronald Reagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ronald-reagan/) > [My father was trained as a saddler, but in fact as a young man worked in his father's business of rearing and selling cattle,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aaron-klug/my-father-was-trained-as-a-saddler-but-in-fact-as-a-young-man-worked/) [Aaron Klug](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aaron-klug/) > [Britain still has the most reliably beautiful countryside of anywhere in the world. I would hate to be part of the generation that allowed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-bryson/britain-still-has-the-most-reliably-beautiful-countryside-of-anywhere/) [Bill Bryson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-bryson/) > [Gail Anderson-Dargatz has a noticing eye, a voice as unique as the countryside she writes about, and a heart large enough to love her…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-hodgins/gail-anderson-dargatz-has-a-noticing-eye-a-voice-as-unique-as-the/) Jack Hodgins > [What e'er you are That in this desert inaccessible, Under the shade of melancholy boughs, Lose and neglect the creeping hours of time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/what-e-er-you-are-that-in-this-desert-inaccessible-under-the-shade-of/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) > [There are some delightful places in this world which have a sensual charm for the eyes. One loves them with a physical love. We…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/guy-de-maupassant/there-are-some-delightful-places-in-this-world-which-have-a-sensual/) [Guy de Maupassant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/guy-de-maupassant/) > [I like girls who like the countryside, put on walking boots and can bend with the wind a bit. 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