Art Quote by Michel de Certeau
“The walking of passers-by offers a series of turns and detours that can be compared to "turns of phrase" or "stylistic figures." There is a rhetoric of walking. The art of "turning" phrases finds an equivalent in an art of composing a path.”
About This Quote
Source Book: The Practice of Everyday Life, Michel de Certeau, 1980
Walking serves as a metaphor for how language twists and turns, shaping meaning like a path through a landscape.
In simple terms: Walking mirrors how language twists and
Key Takeaway
.
Themes
Observe how movement influences expression.
Mood
reflective
analytical
Type
observational
philosophical
When to use this quote
- Semiotics
- spatial metaphor
- narrative structure
Key Concepts
rhetoric
metaphor
language
movement
Practical Applications
- Urban strolls
- creative writing
- public speaking
- design of wayfinding
Questions to Reflect On
- How does physical movement affect your choice of words?
- Can you map a personal journey onto a rhetorical structure?
A Different Perspective
The metaphor may oversimplify complex linguistic processes.
![“His [the pedestrian's] elevation transfigures him into a voyeur. It puts his at a distance. It transforms the bewitching world by which one was 'possessed' into a text that lies before one's eyes. It allows one to read it, to be a solar Eye, looking down like a god. The exaltation of a scopic and…” quote by Michel de Certeau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/e6f/michel-de-certeau-15812_92_his-the-pedestrian-s-elevation-transfigu_256393.jpg)
![“When he grew old, Aristotle, who is not generally considered a tightrope dancer, liked to lose himself in the most labyrinthine and subtle of discourses […]. ‘The more solitary and isolated I become, the more I come to like stories,’ he said.” quote by Michel de Certeau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/11a/michel-de-certeau-15812_aristotle_when-he-grew-old-aristotle-who-is-not-ge_702039.jpg)
![“It is as though the practices organizing a bustling city were characterized by [city practitioners', everyday citizens'] blindness. The neworks of these moving, intersecting writings compose a manifold story that has neither author nor spectator, shaped out of fragments of trajectories and…” quote by Michel de Certeau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/21e/michel-de-certeau-15812_blindness_it-is-as-though-the-practices-organizing_1209841.jpg)
