--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Human relationships are patterned and…" description: "\"Human relationships are patterned and cross-patterned and restricted and limited and delimited and caged and freed again by the elaborate conventions, ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/328/peter-greenaway-2444_absurd_human-relationships-are-patterned-and-cr_882442.png" --- # Human relationships are patterned and cross-patterned and… ![“Human relationships are patterned and cross-patterned and restricted and limited and delimited and caged and freed again by the elaborate conventions, rules and games which we call civilisation. They're often absurd and farcical, and sometimes they're tragic, yet we acknowledge that they are…” quote by Peter Greenaway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/328/peter-greenaway-2444_absurd_human-relationships-are-patterned-and-cr_882442.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/328/peter-greenaway-2444_absurd_human-relationships-are-patterned-and-cr_882442.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/328/peter-greenaway-2444_absurd_human-relationships-are-patterned-and-cr_882442.png) > “Human relationships are patterned and cross-patterned and restricted and limited and delimited and caged and freed again by the elaborate conventions, rules and games which we call civilisation. They're often absurd and farcical, and sometimes they're tragic, yet we acknowledge that they are necessary.” [Peter Greenaway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-greenaway/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Civilisation’s rules shape and free human connections, often absurdly. **In simple terms:** Rules both bind and free relationships. Key Takeaway Question societal conventions. Themes civilisation relationships absurdity Mood analytical philosophical Type critical inquisitive When to use this quote - urban life - artistic collaborations - legal systems Key Concepts Social theory philosophy Questions to Reflect On - What conventions limit authentic connection? - When do rules empower? A Different Perspective Rules can be oppressive. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Absurd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/absurd/) [Acknowledge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/acknowledge/) [Caged](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/caged/) [Civilisation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/civilisation/) [Civilisation Absurd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/civilisation-absurd-1066916/) [Conventions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conventions/) [Crosses](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/crosses/) [Games](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/games/) [Games Civilisation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/games-civilisation-1066915/) [Human relations](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/human-relations/) [Human relationship](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/human-relationship/) [Human relationships](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/human-relationships/) [Humans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humans/) [Relationships](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/relationships/) [Relationships Patterned](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/relationships-patterned-1066917/) [Sometimes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sometimes/) [Tragic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tragic/) ## Related quotes > [Perhaps that's what all human relationships boiled down to: Would you save my life? or would you take it?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toni-morrison/perhaps-that-s-what-all-human-relationships-boiled-down-to-would-you/) [Toni Morrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toni-morrison/) > [I play around with human things, human relationships and that, and allow that kind of talk to work in that way, on that level.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barry-levinson/i-play-around-with-human-things-human-relationships-and-that-and/) [Barry Levinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barry-levinson/) > [If our love for each other really is participatory, then all other human relationships nourish it; it is inclusive, never exclusive.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/madeleine-l-engle/if-our-love-for-each-other-really-is-participatory-then-all-other/) [Madeleine L'Engle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/madeleine-l-engle/) > [I've lived in a preindustrial (rural Argentina) as well as an industrial world. 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Friendship, family life and… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/if-people-place-such-things-as-friendship-and-family-ties-above-their/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [Against the suffering which may come upon one from human relationships the readiest safeguard is voluntary isolation, keeping oneself aloof from other people. 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We all have pricks and cunts, or are you different from the rest of us?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-greenaway/american-actors-are-coy-we-all-have-pricks-and-cunts-or-are-you/) [Peter Greenaway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-greenaway/) > [I want to be a prime creator - as every self-regarding artist should do.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-greenaway/i-want-to-be-a-prime-creator-as-every-self-regarding-artist-should-do/) [Peter Greenaway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-greenaway/) > [To be an atheist you have to have ten thousand times more imagination than if you are a religious fundamentalist. 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For painting requires a certain blindness, a partial refusal to be aware of all the options.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-greenaway/a-really-intelligent-man-makes-an-indifferent-painter-for-painting/) [Peter Greenaway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-greenaway/) > [I have often thought it was very arrogant to suppose you could make a film for anybody but yourself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-greenaway/i-have-often-thought-it-was-very-arrogant-to-suppose-you-could-make-a/) [Peter Greenaway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-greenaway/) > [I believe that cinema died on the 31 September 1983 when the zapper, or the remote control, was introduced into the living rooms of the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-greenaway/i-believe-that-cinema-died-on-the-31-september-1983-when-the-zapper/) [Peter Greenaway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-greenaway/) > [My biggest critical success was 'The Draughtsman's Contract,' but then it wasn't the English who particularly thought so; it was the French, who are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-greenaway/my-biggest-critical-success-was-the-draughtsman-s-contract-but-then/) [Peter Greenaway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-greenaway/) > [There are basically only two subject matters in all Western culture: sex and death. 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For after you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/it-is-a-dangerous-and-fateful-presumption-besides-the-absurd-temerity/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I thought to myself: if it’s true that every person has a star in the sky, mine must be distant, dim, and absurd. Perhaps…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sadegh-hedayat/i-thought-to-myself-if-it-s-true-that-every-person-has-a-star-in-the/) [Sadegh Hedayat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sadegh-hedayat/) > [If, indeed, a firearm were more dangerous to its possessors than to potential aggressors, would it not make sense for the government to arm…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-mamet/if-indeed-a-firearm-were-more-dangerous-to-its-possessors-than-to/) [David Mamet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-mamet/) > [“You were torturing a cat," she says. "With a freaking prod." "A prod I built myself in metal shop," he says. 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