--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The yellow commuter train ran through…" description: "\"“The yellow commuter train ran through canal-crossed fields as dull as graph paper. Always one saw evidence of the tiny brick houses that the incontine..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/363/joseph-o-neill-10798_angst_the-yellow-commuter-train-ran-through-ca_2503745.jpg" --- # The yellow commuter train ran through canal-crossed fields… ![“The yellow commuter train ran through canal-crossed fields as dull as graph paper. Always one saw evidence of the tiny brick houses that the incontinent municipalities, Voorschoten and Leidschendam and Rijswijk and Zoetermeer, pooped over the rural spaces surrounding The Hague.” quote by Joseph O'Neill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/363/joseph-o-neill-10798_angst_the-yellow-commuter-train-ran-through-ca_2503745.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/363/joseph-o-neill-10798_angst_the-yellow-commuter-train-ran-through-ca_2503745.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/363/joseph-o-neill-10798_angst_the-yellow-commuter-train-ran-through-ca_2503745.jpg) > ““The yellow commuter train ran through canal-crossed fields as dull as graph paper. Always one saw evidence of the tiny brick houses that the incontinent municipalities, Voorschoten and Leidschendam and Rijswijk and Zoetermeer, pooped over the rural spaces surrounding The Hague.”” [Joseph O'Neill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-o-neill/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The description paints suburban sprawl as monotonous, highlighting how bureaucratic expansion erodes natural landscapes. **In simple terms:** Urban growth can dull the countryside. Key Takeaway Notice how development impacts environment. Themes urbanization environment monotony Mood critical observational Type literary descriptive When to use this quote - city planning - environmental activism - travel writing - education Key Concepts sprawl bureaucracy land use Questions to Reflect On - What responsibilities do planners have? - How can we balance growth and nature? A Different Perspective The tone may romanticize decay, ignoring benefits of infrastructure. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Angst](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/angst/) [Fitness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fitness/) [Houses Incontinent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/houses-incontinent-1086625/) [Incontinent Municipalities](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/incontinent-municipalities-1086623/) [Modern society](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/modern-society/) [Pooped Rural](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pooped-rural-1086622/) [Surrounding Hague](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/surrounding-hague-1086624/) [Train Ran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/train-ran-936283/) ## Related quotes > [“The last wendigo died in 1962, or so the story goes. 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She dragged her top drawer open, rooted out her aspirin. "I should have fired her weeks…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nora-roberts/no-this-would-be-better-as-a-team-she-dragged-her-top-drawer-open/) [Nora Roberts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nora-roberts/) > [I'm still secretly a bit of a punk. Love The Clash and a bit of the Pistols. I guess as I've got older I've…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iwan-rheon/i-m-still-secretly-a-bit-of-a-punk-love-the-clash-and-a-bit-of-the/) [Iwan Rheon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iwan-rheon/) > [Once we got over the origin story, we could really delve deeper into their lives and characters and angst. So this movie actually has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/avi-arad/once-we-got-over-the-origin-story-we-could-really-delve-deeper-into/) [Avi Arad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/avi-arad/) > [“She personified her name in everything she did. 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You make eye contact with people who are almost…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christine-mcvie/you-look-out-into-the-audience-and-you-see-so-much-joy-on-people-s/) [Christine McVie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christine-mcvie/) > [“Once upon a time, there was a naïve and innocent girl who thought she could tame the beast and live happily ever after. But…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nenia-campbell/once-upon-a-time-there-was-a-na-ve-and-innocent-girl-who-thought-she/) [Nenia Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nenia-campbell/) ## More by Joseph O'Neill > [I felt shame - I see this clearly, now - at the instinctive recognition in myself of an awful enfeebling fatalism, a sense that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-o-neill/i-felt-shame-i-see-this-clearly-now-at-the-instinctive-recognition-in/) [Joseph O'Neill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-o-neill/) > [“...even my work, the largest of the pots and pans I'd placed under my life's leaking ceiling, had become to small to contain my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-o-neill/even-my-work-the-largest-of-the-pots-and-pans-i-d-placed-under-my/) [Joseph O'Neill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-o-neill/) > [I think you sense the metaphorical resonance of what you're writing without analysing it too carefully. That leads you down dead ends. 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Then I turn to look for what it is we're…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-o-neill/i-see-i-tell-him-looking-from-him-to-rachel-and-again-to-him-then-i/) [Joseph O'Neill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-o-neill/) > [“Like an old door, ever man past a certain age comes with historical warps and creaks of one kind or another, and a woman…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-o-neill/like-an-old-door-ever-man-past-a-certain-age-comes-with-historical/) [Joseph O'Neill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-o-neill/) > [“She merely wiped the floor with paper towels and said nothing, brushing her free hand against my shoulder blade—my shoulder blade!—as she carried the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-o-neill/she-merely-wiped-the-floor-with-paper-towels-and-said-nothing/) [Joseph O'Neill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-o-neill/) > [“I am vertiginously reminded that the human race refreshes itself in absolute ignorance and that without an enormous, never-ending labor of pedagogy, everything would…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-o-neill/i-am-vertiginously-reminded-that-the-human-race-refreshes-itself-in/) [Joseph O'Neill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-o-neill/) > [You want a novel to tap as directly as possible into your most unspeakable preoccupations. And in America, in particular, cricket is pretty unspeakable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-o-neill/you-want-a-novel-to-tap-as-directly-as-possible-into-your-most/) [Joseph O'Neill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-o-neill/) > [“A self-evident and prefabricated symbolism attaches itself to this slow climb to the zenith, and we are not so foolishly ironic, or confident, as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-o-neill/a-self-evident-and-prefabricated-symbolism-attaches-itself-to-this/) [Joseph O'Neill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-o-neill/) > [“...bright-shirted racers of the Tour de France zoomed by like fantastically bicycling macaws.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-o-neill/bright-shirted-racers-of-the-tour-de-france-zoomed-by-like/) [Joseph O'Neill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-o-neill/) > [Novel-writing is a bit like deception. You lie as little as you possibly can. That's the way I do it, anyway.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-o-neill/novel-writing-is-a-bit-like-deception-you-lie-as-little-as-you/) [Joseph O'Neill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-o-neill/) > [“For those under the age of 45 it seemed that world events had finally contrived a meaningful test of their capacity for conscientious political…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-o-neill/for-those-under-the-age-of-45-it-seemed-that-world-events-had-finally/) [Joseph O'Neill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-o-neill/) > [“Perhaps the relevant truth- and it's one whose existence was apparent to my wife, and I'm sure to much of the world, long before…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-o-neill/perhaps-the-relevant-truth-and-it-s-one-whose-existence-was-apparent/) [Joseph O'Neill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-o-neill/) [Explore all 61 Joseph O'Neill quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-o-neill/) ## More Angst quotes > [“Once upon a time, there was a naïve and innocent girl who thought she could tame the beast and live happily ever after. 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Will still be there for me.” “I’ll never tire…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-hoyt/when-you-ve-tired-of-me-she-said-softly-precisely-apollo-will-still/) [Elizabeth Hoyt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-hoyt/) > [You look out into the audience and you see so much joy on people's faces. You make eye contact with people who are almost…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christine-mcvie/you-look-out-into-the-audience-and-you-see-so-much-joy-on-people-s/) [Christine McVie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christine-mcvie/) > [“What I needed was to lose myself in a good book, one with tons of sex and angst, complete with an unbelievable happily-ever-after that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-lynn/what-i-needed-was-to-lose-myself-in-a-good-book-one-with-tons-of-sex/) [J. Lynn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-lynn/) > [“She personified her name in everything she did. Even when we would row, her words were deftly chosen and spoken rather like an intricate…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-cagliola-green/she-personified-her-name-in-everything-she-did-even-when-we-would-row/) [Lauren Cagliola Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-cagliola-green/) > [I'm still secretly a bit of a punk. Love The Clash and a bit of the Pistols. I guess as I've got older I've…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iwan-rheon/i-m-still-secretly-a-bit-of-a-punk-love-the-clash-and-a-bit-of-the/) [Iwan Rheon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iwan-rheon/) > [“No. This would be better as a team." She dragged her top drawer open, rooted out her aspirin. "I should have fired her weeks…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nora-roberts/no-this-would-be-better-as-a-team-she-dragged-her-top-drawer-open/) [Nora Roberts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nora-roberts/) > [“Name's Braxxon baby and I wanna touch an angel"- Braxxon”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/crystal-spears/name-s-braxxon-baby-and-i-wanna-touch-an-angel-braxxon/) [Crystal Spears](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/crystal-spears/) > [“There's a special quality to the loneliness of dusk, a melancholy more brooding even than the night's.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ed-gorman/there-s-a-special-quality-to-the-loneliness-of-dusk-a-melancholy-more/) [Ed Gorman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ed-gorman/) > [I was filled with angst in college, that I struggled with the question of my future, the meaning of my life - spoiled sheltered…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-kostova/i-was-filled-with-angst-in-college-that-i-struggled-with-the-question/) [Elizabeth Kostova](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-kostova/) > [Most people would say they live with an internal angst that they can't always put their finger on. 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Lounsbrough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/craig-d-lounsbrough/) [Browse all 325 Angst quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/angst/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“The yellow commuter train ran through canal-crossed fields as dull as graph paper. 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