--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Someday all the wilds will be razed, and…" description: "\"“Someday all the wilds will be razed, and we will be left with a concrete landscape, a land of pretty houses and trim gardens and planned parks and for..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/849/lauren-oliver-109_dystopian_someday-all-the-wilds-will-be-razed-and_745113.png" --- # Someday all the wilds will be razed, and we will be left… ![“Someday all the wilds will be razed, and we will be left with a concrete landscape, a land of pretty houses and trim gardens and planned parks and forests, and a world that works as smoothly as a clock, neatly wound: a world of metal and gears, and people going tick-tick-tick to their deaths.” quote by Lauren Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/849/lauren-oliver-109_dystopian_someday-all-the-wilds-will-be-razed-and_745113.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/849/lauren-oliver-109_dystopian_someday-all-the-wilds-will-be-razed-and_745113.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/849/lauren-oliver-109_dystopian_someday-all-the-wilds-will-be-razed-and_745113.png) > ““Someday all the wilds will be razed, and we will be left with a concrete landscape, a land of pretty houses and trim gardens and planned parks and forests, and a world that works as smoothly as a clock, neatly wound: a world of metal and gears, and people going tick-tick-tick to their deaths.”” [Lauren Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-oliver/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A dystopian future replaces nature with artificial order, eroding humanity’s vitality. **In simple terms:** Nature replaced by machines. Key Takeaway Beware over‑control. Themes environment technology dehumanization Mood anxious reflective Type cautionary philosophical When to use this quote - city planning - environmental policy - personal lifestyle Key Concepts dystopia urbanization Questions to Reflect On - Is total order worth losing natural chaos? - What balance preserves humanity? ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Dystopian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dystopian/) [Future](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/future/) [Wilds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wilds/) ## Related quotes > [“For a moment I am jealous: He has grown up here, fearless, happy. Perhaps he will never even know about the world on the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-oliver/for-a-moment-i-am-jealous-he-has-grown-up-here-fearless-happy-perhaps/) [Lauren Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-oliver/) > [My childhood landscape was not land but the end of the land - the cold, salt, running hills of the Atlantic. I sometimes think…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-plath/my-childhood-landscape-was-not-land-but-the-end-of-the-land-the-cold/) [Sylvia Plath](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-plath/) > [It's the rule of the wilds. You must be bigger, and stronger, and tougher. A coldness radiates through me, a solid wall that is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-oliver/it-s-the-rule-of-the-wilds-you-must-be-bigger-and-stronger-and/) [Lauren Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-oliver/) > [“And then she left, and it broke my heart so completely I could hardly breathe.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-oliver/and-then-she-left-and-it-broke-my-heart-so-completely-i-could-hardly/) [Lauren Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-oliver/) > [The Wilds aren’t safe anymore,](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-oliver/the-wilds-aren-t-safe-anymore/) [Lauren Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-oliver/) > [“The sky is stained pink and purple, and the shadows are thick, stark brush strokes on the ground. But the air is still warm,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-oliver/the-sky-is-stained-pink-and-purple-and-the-shadows-are-thick-stark/) [Lauren Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-oliver/) > [Dystopian novels help people process their fears about what the future might look like; further, they usually show that there is always hope, even…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-oliver/dystopian-novels-help-people-process-their-fears-about-what-the/) [Lauren Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-oliver/) > [The great wilds of our country, once held to be boundless and inexhaustible, are being rapidly invaded and overrun in every direction, and everything…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-muir/the-great-wilds-of-our-country-once-held-to-be-boundless-and/) [John Muir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-muir/) > [Growing up in the country, you're left to the wilds of your imagination.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cindy-williams/growing-up-in-the-country-you-re-left-to-the-wilds-of-your-imagination/) Cindy Williams > [“They are beautiful, heart-rendingly beautiful, those wilds, with a quality of wide-eyed, unsung, innocent surrender that my lacquered, toy-bright Swiss villages and exhaustively lauded…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-nabokov/they-are-beautiful-heart-rendingly-beautiful-those-wilds-with-a/) [Vladimir Nabokov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-nabokov/) > [A period recourse into the wilds is not a retreat into secret silent sanctums to escape a wicked world, it is to take breath…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benton-mackaye/a-period-recourse-into-the-wilds-is-not-a-retreat-into-secret-silent/) [Benton MacKaye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benton-mackaye/) > [“Wilds whisper, yet I long for their roar.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gin-getz/wilds-whisper-yet-i-long-for-their-roar/) Gin Getz > [“For any scientist the real challenge is not to stay within the secure garden of the known but to venture out into the wilds…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcus-du-sautoy/for-any-scientist-the-real-challenge-is-not-to-stay-within-the-secure/) [Marcus du Sautoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcus-du-sautoy/) > [“We don't quesiton the Others. They rule Earth, maintain order, protect us from the Wilds, But the are not us. They are Other.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/trisha-leigh/we-don-t-quesiton-the-others-they-rule-earth-maintain-order-protect/) [Trisha Leigh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/trisha-leigh/) > [Fatten me if you want to give me meat for the wilds.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mohammad-mustafa/fatten-me-if-you-want-to-give-me-meat-for-the-wilds/) [Mohammad MUSTAFA](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mohammad-mustafa/) ## More by Lauren Oliver > [“My aunt Carol hasn’t heard her say a word in the whole six years and three months of Grace’s life—not a single syllable. Carol…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-oliver/my-aunt-carol-hasn-t-heard-her-say-a-word-in-the-whole-six-years-and/) [Lauren Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-oliver/) > [This is what happens when you try to help people. You get screwed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-oliver/this-is-what-happens-when-you-try-to-help-people-you-get-screwed/) [Lauren Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-oliver/) > [We'll walk together holding hands, and kiss in broad daylight, and love each other as much as we want to, and no one will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-oliver/we-ll-walk-together-holding-hands-and-kiss-in-broad-daylight-and-love/) [Lauren Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-oliver/) > [“It seem absurd to me that they don't know, haven't felt any change or tremor, even as my life has been completely turned upside…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-oliver/it-seem-absurd-to-me-that-they-don-t-know-haven-t-felt-any-change-or/) [Lauren Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-oliver/) > [“At least when I'm sleeping I can dream myself back to Alex, can dream myself into a different world.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-oliver/at-least-when-i-m-sleeping-i-can-dream-myself-back-to-alex-can-dream/) [Lauren Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-oliver/) > [People are like ants: Just a few of them give all the orders. And most of them spend their lives getting squashed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-oliver/people-are-like-ants-just-a-few-of-them-give-all-the-orders-and-most/) [Lauren Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-oliver/) > [Summer explodes into Portland. In early June the heat was there but not the color--the green were still pale and tentative, the morning had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-oliver/summer-explodes-into-portland-in-early-june-the-heat-was-there-but/) [Lauren Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-oliver/) > [Mistake, mistake, mistake. A strange word: stinging, somehow.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-oliver/mistake-mistake-mistake-a-strange-word-stinging-somehow/) [Lauren Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-oliver/) > [I wonder if it's ever really possible to know the truth about someone else, or if the best we can do is just stumble…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-oliver/i-wonder-if-it-s-ever-really-possible-to-know-the-truth-about-someone/) [Lauren Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-oliver/) > [“Julian is somewhere among those lights, in that blur of people and buildings. I wonder whether he's scared. I wonder whether he's thinking of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-oliver/julian-is-somewhere-among-those-lights-in-that-blur-of-people-and/) [Lauren Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-oliver/) > [A room full of words that are nearly the truth but not quite, each note fluttering off the steam of its rose like a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-oliver/a-room-full-of-words-that-are-nearly-the-truth-but-not-quite-each/) [Lauren Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-oliver/) > [“She’s the kind of person who makes you feel drunk just by being around her, like suddenly the world’s edges are dulled and all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-oliver/she-s-the-kind-of-person-who-makes-you-feel-drunk-just-by-being/) [Lauren Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-oliver/) > [“Stop!” His voice rings out sharply, hard as a slap. He releases me and I stumble backward. “Alex is dead, do you hear me?…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-oliver/stop-his-voice-rings-out-sharply-hard-as-a-slap-he-releases-me-and-i/) [Lauren Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-oliver/) > [..in that moment i realize how much i love the little everyday routines of my life..the details that are my life's special pattern, like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-oliver/in-that-moment-i-realize-how-much-i-love-the-little-everyday-routines/) [Lauren Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-oliver/) > [“You can't judge a book by its steel-toed combat boots.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-oliver/you-can-t-judge-a-book-by-its-steel-toed-combat-boots/) [Lauren Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-oliver/) [Explore all 1,181 Lauren Oliver quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-oliver/) ## More Dystopian quotes > [“A glacial chill rushes through Gage. He whips around just in time to see arms clutch Summer around the middle and drag her into…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-kreitzer/a-glacial-chill-rushes-through-gage-he-whips-around-just-in-time-to/) [Laura Kreitzer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-kreitzer/) > [“I put my hand next to his shoulder on the door frame, not touching, but real close. “Look, Blondie. I’m not asking you to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rie-warren/i-put-my-hand-next-to-his-shoulder-on-the-door-frame-not-touching-but/) [Rie Warren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rie-warren/) > [“Her gaze travels back to the lie twisted in a tempest of mud and blood. She witnesses the culmination of her recklessness through a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-kreitzer/her-gaze-travels-back-to-the-lie-twisted-in-a-tempest-of-mud-and/) [Laura Kreitzer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-kreitzer/) > [“Sometimes it takes losing everything to see the truth in nothing, except love, honor, and death.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/n-j-paige/sometimes-it-takes-losing-everything-to-see-the-truth-in-nothing/) N.J. Paige > [“But just being whatever it is that I am . . . I don’t think that makes me a monster. Believe me, I know.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-selden/but-just-being-whatever-it-is-that-i-am-i-don-t-think-that-makes-me-a/) Michael Selden > [“Struggling transforms her captor into a Chinese finger trap. She’s suffocating. Sucking in air without relief. Her lungs expand. Contract. Expand. They fill with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-kreitzer/struggling-transforms-her-captor-into-a-chinese-finger-trap-she-s/) [Laura Kreitzer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-kreitzer/) > [“It is the right of a free individual to be unhindered in their liberty! Especially to fail in their endeavors! Only in this manner…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/keith-parfitt/it-is-the-right-of-a-free-individual-to-be-unhindered-in-their/) Keith Parfitt > [“If that which we have found is the corruption of solitude, then what can men wish for save corruption? If this is the great…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/if-that-which-we-have-found-is-the-corruption-of-solitude-then-what/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [“The king who stepped into the ballroom wearing a green velvet robe and bejeweled crown was none other that the tiger-man who'd prowled through…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kat-falls/the-king-who-stepped-into-the-ballroom-wearing-a-green-velvet-robe/) [Kat Falls](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kat-falls/) > [“Terror builds inside him. The reality that tonight will be his last leaves a sour taste in his mouth. The Tainted will eat him,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-kreitzer/terror-builds-inside-him-the-reality-that-tonight-will-be-his-last/) [Laura Kreitzer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-kreitzer/) > [I think people respond to dystopian stories because they're ways of acting out anxieties that we have and fears that we have about the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/suzanne-collins/i-think-people-respond-to-dystopian-stories-because-they-re-ways-of/) [Suzanne Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/suzanne-collins/) > [The paperweight was the room he was in, and the coral was Julia's life and his own, fixed in a sort of eternity at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/the-paperweight-was-the-room-he-was-in-and-the-coral-was-julia-s-life/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [Kids' literature now is dystopian, you know.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-cameron-mitchell/kids-literature-now-is-dystopian-you-know/) [John Cameron Mitchell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-cameron-mitchell/) > [Writers of feminist dystopian fiction are alert to the realities that grind down women's lives, that make the unthinkable suddenly thinkable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/naomi-alderman/writers-of-feminist-dystopian-fiction-are-alert-to-the-realities-that/) [Naomi Alderman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/naomi-alderman/) > [“But they promised us everyone would return someday…when it was safe.” Her voice cracked at the end. “You’re being stupid again. Trusting in what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-c-avey/but-they-promised-us-everyone-would-return-someday-when-it-was-safe/) [T.C. Avey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-c-avey/) [Browse all 283 Dystopian quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dystopian/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Someday all the wilds will be razed, and we will be left with a concrete landscape, a land of pretty houses and trim gardens and planned parks and forests, and a world that works as smoothly as a clock, neatly wound: a world of metal and gears, and people going tick-tick-tick to their deaths.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Lauren Oliver" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-oliver/someday-all-the-wilds-will-be-razed-and-we-will-be-left-with-a/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Dystopian" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-oliver/someday-all-the-wilds-will-be-razed-and-we-will-be-left-with-a/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/849/lauren-oliver-109_dystopian_someday-all-the-wilds-will-be-razed-and_745113.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/849/lauren-oliver-109_dystopian_someday-all-the-wilds-will-be-razed-and_745113.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/849/lauren-oliver-109_dystopian_someday-all-the-wilds-will-be-razed-and_745113.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Someday all the wilds will be razed, and we will be left with a concrete landscape, a land of pretty houses…” — Lauren Oliver", "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": "Lauren Oliver", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-oliver/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“Someday all the wilds will be...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-oliver/someday-all-the-wilds-will-be-razed-and-we-will-be-left-with-a/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-oliver/someday-all-the-wilds-will-be-razed-and-we-will-be-left-with-a/#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 } } ] } ```