--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: ... Chicago divided your heart. Leaving…" description: "\"... Chicago divided your heart. Leaving you loving the joint for keeps. Yet knowing it never can love you.\" — Nelson Algren" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6a9/nelson-algren-11153_chicago_chicago-divided-your-heart-leaving-you-l_1801011.png" --- # ... Chicago divided your heart. Leaving you loving the… ![“... Chicago divided your heart. Leaving you loving the joint for keeps. Yet knowing it never can love you.” quote by Nelson Algren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6a9/nelson-algren-11153_chicago_chicago-divided-your-heart-leaving-you-l_1801011.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6a9/nelson-algren-11153_chicago_chicago-divided-your-heart-leaving-you-l_1801011.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6a9/nelson-algren-11153_chicago_chicago-divided-your-heart-leaving-you-l_1801011.png) > “... Chicago divided your heart. Leaving you loving the joint for keeps. Yet knowing it never can love you.” [Nelson Algren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nelson-algren/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The city’s split nature offers both love and pain, yet it cannot fully satisfy the heart. **In simple terms:** Chicago’s love and pain coexist. Key Takeaway Accept the city’s contradictions without expecting full fulfillment. Themes urban life love disillusionment Mood melancholic thoughtful Type poetic philosophical When to use this quote - living in a big city - relationship with hometown - seeking belonging Key Concepts existentialism cityscape Questions to Reflect On - Can you love a place that also hurts you? - How do you reconcile love and disappointment? A Different Perspective Romanticizing a place can ignore its hardships. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Chicago](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/chicago/) [Divided heart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/divided-heart/) [Heart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/heart/) [Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love/) ## Related quotes > [Why the Christian life is so difficult to many is because they have a divided heart. They are double-minded, which makes them unstable in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ellen-g-white/why-the-christian-life-is-so-difficult-to-many-is-because-they-have-a/) [Ellen G. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ellen-g-white/) > [A divided heart offers a strange sensation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ann-aguirre/a-divided-heart-offers-a-strange-sensation/) [Ann Aguirre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ann-aguirre/) > [God will not accept a divided heart. He must be absolute monarch. There is not room in your heart for two thrones. You cannot…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dwight-l-moody/god-will-not-accept-a-divided-heart-he-must-be-absolute-monarch-there/) [Dwight L. Moody](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dwight-l-moody/) > [“I would be a woman soon and I would have to learn how to live with a divided heart.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anita-diamant/i-would-be-a-woman-soon-and-i-would-have-to-learn-how-to-live-with-a/) [Anita Diamant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anita-diamant/) > [I wanted to cry, but I realized that I was too old for that. I would be a woman soon and I would have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-wanted-to-cry-but-i-realized-that-i-was-too-old-for-that-i-would-be/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [There is no place in the kingdom of heaven for a divided heart. 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Simpson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/a-b-simpson/) > [“In love afairs, there is no mediator like a merry, simple-hearted child - ever ready to cement divided hearts, to span the unfriendly gulf…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-bronte/in-love-afairs-there-is-no-mediator-like-a-merry-simple-hearted-child/) [Anne Brontë](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-bronte/) > [She was owner and captive, both, of a bitterly divided heart.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/guy-gavriel-kay/she-was-owner-and-captive-both-of-a-bitterly-divided-heart/) [Guy Gavriel Kay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/guy-gavriel-kay/) > [“Sin gains power over us not by its indomitable force but by our divided heart.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bryan-chapell/sin-gains-power-over-us-not-by-its-indomitable-force-but-by-our/) [Bryan Chapell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bryan-chapell/) > [“The undivided heart is a good thing, as long as you love somebody. 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I think I used four boxes of Soilex…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeffrey-dahmer/i-separated-the-joints-the-arm-joints-the-leg-joints-and-had-to-do/) [Jeffrey Dahmer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeffrey-dahmer/) > [ Leave a cavity behind the \[wall\] facings, and on the inside build walls two feet thick, made of red dimension stone or burnt brick… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcus-vitruvius-pollio/leave-a-cavity-behind-the-wall-facings-and-on-the-inside-build-walls/) [Marcus Vitruvius Pollio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcus-vitruvius-pollio/) ## More by Nelson Algren > [When we get more houses than we can live in, more cars than we can ride in, more food than we can eat ourselves,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nelson-algren/when-we-get-more-houses-than-we-can-live-in-more-cars-than-we-can/) [Nelson Algren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nelson-algren/) > [“For way down there, in a shot glass's false bottom, everything was bound to turn out fine after all.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nelson-algren/for-way-down-there-in-a-shot-glass-s-false-bottom-everything-was/) [Nelson Algren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nelson-algren/) > [Chicago is an October sort of city even in spring.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nelson-algren/chicago-is-an-october-sort-of-city-even-in-spring/) [Nelson Algren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nelson-algren/) > [“Without hesitation, Dove chose the nowhere road. For that was the only place, in his heart of hearts, that he really wanted to go.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nelson-algren/without-hesitation-dove-chose-the-nowhere-road-for-that-was-the-only/) [Nelson Algren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nelson-algren/) > [“Big-shot town, small-shot town, jet-propelled old-fashioned town, by old-world hands with new-world tools built into a place whose heartbeat carries farther than its shout,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nelson-algren/big-shot-town-small-shot-town-jet-propelled-old-fashioned-town-by-old/) [Nelson Algren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nelson-algren/) > [Never eat in a place called 'Mom's'.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nelson-algren/never-eat-in-a-place-called-mom-s/) [Nelson Algren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nelson-algren/) > [“Nor all your piety nor all your preaching, nor all your crusades nor all your threats can stop one girl from going on the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nelson-algren/nor-all-your-piety-nor-all-your-preaching-nor-all-your-crusades-nor/) [Nelson Algren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nelson-algren/) > [“A certain ruthlessness and a sense of alienation from society is as essential to creative writing as it is to armed robbery.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nelson-algren/a-certain-ruthlessness-and-a-sense-of-alienation-from-society-is-as/) [Nelson Algren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nelson-algren/) > [Never sleep with someone whose troubles are worse than your own.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nelson-algren/never-sleep-with-someone-whose-troubles-are-worse-than-your-own/) [Nelson Algren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nelson-algren/) > [“If you feel you belong to things as they are, you won’t hold up anyone in the alley no matter how hungry you may…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nelson-algren/if-you-feel-you-belong-to-things-as-they-are-you-won-t-hold-up-anyone/) [Nelson Algren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nelson-algren/) > [Literature is made upon any occasion that a challenge is put to the legal apparatus by conscience in touch with humanity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nelson-algren/literature-is-made-upon-any-occasion-that-a-challenge-is-put-to-the/) [Nelson Algren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nelson-algren/) > [“faith in the eventual supremacy of reason has become so timid that we dare not enter our convictions in the open lists, to win…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nelson-algren/faith-in-the-eventual-supremacy-of-reason-has-become-so-timid-that-we/) [Nelson Algren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nelson-algren/) > [“And when I read one of those scapegoat pieces about the "viciousness" of drug pushers, and extolling the basic humanitarianism of the nark-squad hero,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nelson-algren/and-when-i-read-one-of-those-scapegoat-pieces-about-the-viciousness/) [Nelson Algren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nelson-algren/) > [There is no way of being a creative writer in America without being a loser.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nelson-algren/there-is-no-way-of-being-a-creative-writer-in-america-without-being-a/) [Nelson Algren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nelson-algren/) > [“If Jesus Christ treated me like you do, I’d drive in the nails myself.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nelson-algren/if-jesus-christ-treated-me-like-you-do-i-d-drive-in-the-nails-myself/) [Nelson Algren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nelson-algren/) [Explore all 60 Nelson Algren quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nelson-algren/) ## More Chicago quotes > [I'm proud to say I had a bet with a guy from Chicago who said Chicago is windier and colder than Wyoming. 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And so I do have a lot of experience in stage combat…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nick-offerman/i-worked-a-lot-in-chicago-s-theater-scene-as-a-fight-choreographer/) [Nick Offerman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nick-offerman/) > [“Things are more like they are now...than they have EVER been before!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/uncle-arnie-mamath/things-are-more-like-they-are-now-than-they-have-ever-been-before/) Uncle Arnie Mamath > [This week I realized my dad will make you cry in the store if you make him mad. Also when your crossing the street…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/this-week-i-realized-my-dad-will-make-you-cry-in-the-store-if-you/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Whenever I was flying commercial, I would land in Chicago, and they would announce, 'Get your passports out.' It happened so often, I would…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shahid-khan/whenever-i-was-flying-commercial-i-would-land-in-chicago-and-they/) [Shahid Khan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shahid-khan/) > [I loved 'Chicago Code;' I watched that a lot. It was great because it really captured the city - I'm from Chicago, too.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jessy-schram/i-loved-chicago-code-i-watched-that-a-lot-it-was-great-because-it/) [Jessy Schram](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jessy-schram/) > [As much as I want to stay on the team -- I love Chicago, I love the Bulls -- at the same time, I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/luol-deng/as-much-as-i-want-to-stay-on-the-team-i-love-chicago-i-love-the-bulls/) [Luol Deng](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/luol-deng/) > [I'm from Chicago. 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