--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Anyone who lives in a city will know the…" description: "\"Anyone who lives in a city will know the feeling of having been there too long. The gorge-vision that the streets imprint on us, the sense of blockage,..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/749/robert-macfarlane-11240_blockage_anyone-who-lives-in-a-city-will-know-the_352944.png" --- # Anyone who lives in a city will know the feeling of having… ![“Anyone who lives in a city will know the feeling of having been there too long. The gorge-vision that the streets imprint on us, the sense of blockage, the longing for surfaces other than glass, brick, concrete and tarmac…I have lived in Cambridge on and off for a decade, and I imagine I will…” quote by Robert Macfarlane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/749/robert-macfarlane-11240_blockage_anyone-who-lives-in-a-city-will-know-the_352944.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/749/robert-macfarlane-11240_blockage_anyone-who-lives-in-a-city-will-know-the_352944.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/749/robert-macfarlane-11240_blockage_anyone-who-lives-in-a-city-will-know-the_352944.png) > “Anyone who lives in a city will know the feeling of having been there too long. The gorge-vision that the streets imprint on us, the sense of blockage, the longing for surfaces other than glass, brick, concrete and tarmac…I have lived in Cambridge on and off for a decade, and I imagine I will continue to do so for years to come. And for as long as I stay here, I know I will have to also get to the wild places.” [Robert Macfarlane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-macfarlane/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Living in a city creates a feeling of confinement and a yearning for natural environments, suggesting urban life can feel oppressive. **In simple terms:** City life feels cramped; nature feels freeing. Key Takeaway Seek regular nature experiences. Themes urban alienation longing nature identity Mood nostalgic contemplative Type observational inspirational When to use this quote - daily commute - remote work - vacations - urban planning Key Concepts biophilia environmental psychology Questions to Reflect On - What small natural experiences can you incorporate daily? - How does urban design affect mental health? A Different Perspective Not everyone can easily access wild places. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Blockage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/blockage/) [Cambridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cambridge/) [Cities](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cities/) [Feelings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/feelings/) [Longing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/longing/) [Streets](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/streets/) [Vision](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/vision/) ## Related quotes > [“I never know what people want to hear when they say that stuff. And it’s not like anything about me is interesting or nothing.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-l-merrow/i-never-know-what-people-want-to-hear-when-they-say-that-stuff-and-it/) [J.L. Merrow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-l-merrow/) > [I've been accused of having very long ingredient lists, and I guess there's some truth in that.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yotam-ottolenghi/i-ve-been-accused-of-having-very-long-ingredient-lists-and-i-guess/) [Yotam Ottolenghi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yotam-ottolenghi/) > [I am 6 foot 2 inches, and one of the benefits of that is having long legs.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andreja-pejic/i-am-6-foot-2-inches-and-one-of-the-benefits-of-that-is-having-long/) [Andreja Pejic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andreja-pejic/) > [I'm much more conspicuous having long hair than I will be with it short.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bess-truman/i-m-much-more-conspicuous-having-long-hair-than-i-will-be-with-it/) [Bess Truman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bess-truman/) > [I can't imagine having long hair anymore; it's weird.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robin-wright/i-can-t-imagine-having-long-hair-anymore-it-s-weird/) [Robin Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robin-wright/) > [Having a long career with real lasting power has always been a goal.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christian-cage/having-a-long-career-with-real-lasting-power-has-always-been-a-goal/) [Christian Cage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christian-cage/) > [Merely having seen the season change in a country gave one the sense of having been there for a long time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willa-cather/merely-having-seen-the-season-change-in-a-country-gave-one-the-sense/) [Willa Cather](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willa-cather/) > [I plan on having a long career. I don't want to burn out.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zawe-ashton/i-plan-on-having-a-long-career-i-don-t-want-to-burn-out/) [Zawe Ashton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zawe-ashton/) > [At the end of the day for me, it's not about getting into the league, it's about staying and having a long career.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/josh-hart/at-the-end-of-the-day-for-me-it-s-not-about-getting-into-the-league/) [Josh Hart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/josh-hart/) > [I think maybe the key to having a long relationship is really appreciating that person's life and not trying to own it. It's like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kristen-stewart/i-think-maybe-the-key-to-having-a-long-relationship-is-really/) [Kristen Stewart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kristen-stewart/) > [Reading a good long novel is in many ways like having a long and satisfying affair](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-king/reading-a-good-long-novel-is-in-many-ways-like-having-a-long-and/) [Stephen King](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-king/) > [“Live and love the experiences you’re having when you’re having them, and for as long as they last, and rest assured you can have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/d-l-kline/live-and-love-the-experiences-you-re-having-when-you-re-having-them/) D. L. Kline > [We're with each other 24/7 and that's not an exaggeration. But I think after 25 years it's like you are with your family basically.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sal-vulcano/we-re-with-each-other-24-7-and-that-s-not-an-exaggeration-but-i-think/) [Sal Vulcano](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sal-vulcano/) > [It's just the more you do it the better you get, or at least that's how I feel in my case. I think it's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lucinda-williams/it-s-just-the-more-you-do-it-the-better-you-get-or-at-least-that-s/) [Lucinda Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lucinda-williams/) > [Stupidity is a blockage in the ability to receive, integrate and transmit new signals.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-anton-wilson/stupidity-is-a-blockage-in-the-ability-to-receive-integrate-and/) [Robert Anton Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-anton-wilson/) ## More by Robert Macfarlane > [“The association of the wild and the wood also run deep in etymology. The two words are thought to have grown out of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-macfarlane/the-association-of-the-wild-and-the-wood-also-run-deep-in-etymology/) [Robert Macfarlane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-macfarlane/) > [“We are adept, if occasionally embarrassed, at saying what we make of places - but we are far less good at saying what places…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-macfarlane/we-are-adept-if-occasionally-embarrassed-at-saying-what-we-make-of/) [Robert Macfarlane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-macfarlane/) > [“I had started climbing trees about three years earlier, or rather, re-started; for I had been at a school that had a wood for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-macfarlane/i-had-started-climbing-trees-about-three-years-earlier-or-rather-re/) [Robert Macfarlane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-macfarlane/) > [“The whole foot is a document of motion, inscribed by repeated action. Babies - from those first foetal footfalls, the kneading of sole against…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-macfarlane/the-whole-foot-is-a-document-of-motion-inscribed-by-repeated-action/) [Robert Macfarlane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-macfarlane/) > [“My grandparents... planted their land up with trees, both those native... and exotics which stood in memory of the countries where they had lived.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-macfarlane/my-grandparents-planted-their-land-up-with-trees-both-those-native/) [Robert Macfarlane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-macfarlane/) > [“Touch is a reciprocal action, a gesture of exchange with the world. To make an impression is also to receive one, and the soles…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-macfarlane/touch-is-a-reciprocal-action-a-gesture-of-exchange-with-the-world-to/) [Robert Macfarlane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-macfarlane/) > [Knowing another is endless,' Shepherd had written; 'The thing to be known grows with the knowing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-macfarlane/knowing-another-is-endless-shepherd-had-written-the-thing-to-be-known/) [Robert Macfarlane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-macfarlane/) > [By speaking of greater forces than we can possibly invoke, and by confronting us with greater spans of time than we can possibly envisage,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-macfarlane/by-speaking-of-greater-forces-than-we-can-possibly-invoke-and-by/) [Robert Macfarlane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-macfarlane/) > [I remembered what Thoreau had written in his journal about thinking nothing of walking eight miles to greet a tree.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-macfarlane/i-remembered-what-thoreau-had-written-in-his-journal-about-thinking/) [Robert Macfarlane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-macfarlane/) > [“...the instinct and the body (the felt smoothness of pebbles, the seen grain of light) must know in ways that the conscious mind cannot.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-macfarlane/the-instinct-and-the-body-the-felt-smoothness-of-pebbles-the-seen/) [Robert Macfarlane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-macfarlane/) > [“meaning indifferent to the distinction between things. It is not, on the whole, that natural phenomena and entities themselves are disappearing; rather that there…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-macfarlane/meaning-indifferent-to-the-distinction-between-things-it-is-not-on/) [Robert Macfarlane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-macfarlane/) > [“When the lark sing he feels invulnerable.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-macfarlane/when-the-lark-sing-he-feels-invulnerable/) [Robert Macfarlane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-macfarlane/) > [“...he suggested that paths were imprinted with the 'dreams' of each traveler who had walked it and that his own experiences would in course…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-macfarlane/he-suggested-that-paths-were-imprinted-with-the-dreams-of-each/) [Robert Macfarlane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-macfarlane/) > [ “Although the disappearance of the true wildwood \[in the British Isles\] occurred in the Neolithic period, before humanity began to record its own history,… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-macfarlane/although-the-disappearance-of-the-true-wildwood-in-the-british-isles/) [Robert Macfarlane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-macfarlane/) > [“To be in the Burren is to be reminded that physical matter is simultaneously indestructible and entirely transmutable: that it can swap states drastically,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-macfarlane/to-be-in-the-burren-is-to-be-reminded-that-physical-matter-is/) [Robert Macfarlane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-macfarlane/) [Explore all 60 Robert Macfarlane quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-macfarlane/) ## More Blockage quotes > [Stupidity is a blockage in the ability to receive, integrate and transmit new signals.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-anton-wilson/stupidity-is-a-blockage-in-the-ability-to-receive-integrate-and/) [Robert Anton Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-anton-wilson/) > [More times than not, my pain stems from an area in which I've been least authentic. The second I identify the source - the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/romany-malco/more-times-than-not-my-pain-stems-from-an-area-in-which-i-ve-been/) [Romany Malco](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/romany-malco/) > [Each blockage is a blockage. Each impasse is an impasse. You have to find a solution; there is no recipe that fits each one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roberto-azevedo/each-blockage-is-a-blockage-each-impasse-is-an-impasse-you-have-to/) [Roberto Azevedo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roberto-azevedo/) > [When it reaches a blockage, water find the easiest path around the blockage, or it continues to assemble, and flows over the blockage.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-lenz/when-it-reaches-a-blockage-water-find-the-easiest-path-around-the/) [Frederick Lenz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-lenz/) > [Medicine could have pretty far-reaching effects once we begin to look at the kinds of things that people can do to induce transformation in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fred-alan-wolf/medicine-could-have-pretty-far-reaching-effects-once-we-begin-to-look/) [Fred Alan Wolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fred-alan-wolf/) > [I had a 23 per cent blockage in my micro-arteries. At first the doctors thought I needed a heart transplant, then they said I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toni-braxton/i-had-a-23-per-cent-blockage-in-my-micro-arteries-at-first-the/) [Toni Braxton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toni-braxton/) > [In 2003, I almost died of an intestinal blockage when I was on a mountain in Chile, filming a segment for 'Scientific American Frontiers.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-alda/in-2003-i-almost-died-of-an-intestinal-blockage-when-i-was-on-a/) [Alan Alda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-alda/) > [Now liberals compare their every riot, every traffic blockage, every Starbucks-window-smashing street protest to the civil rights movement -- which was only necessary because…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ann-coulter/now-liberals-compare-their-every-riot-every-traffic-blockage-every/) [Ann Coulter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ann-coulter/) > [He was asking too many questions and he was asking them too quickly. They were stacking up in my head like loaves in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-haddon/he-was-asking-too-many-questions-and-he-was-asking-them-too-quickly/) [Mark Haddon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-haddon/) > [With too little judgement, we get trash. With too much judgement, we get blockage.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-nachmanovitch/with-too-little-judgement-we-get-trash-with-too-much-judgement-we-get/) [Stephen Nachmanovitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-nachmanovitch/) > [Any kind of blockage is heart disease; when you have a blood clot anywhere, that's heart disease. When Wilt Chamberlain died, strongest man I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-salley/any-kind-of-blockage-is-heart-disease-when-you-have-a-blood-clot/) [John Salley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-salley/) > [If you take the time to bring the light of the supra-conscious into your being, then automatically all blockages will go away. These are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-lenz/if-you-take-the-time-to-bring-the-light-of-the-supra-conscious-into/) [Frederick Lenz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-lenz/) > [The everyday practice is simply to develop a complete acceptance and openness to all situations and emotions and to all people, experiencing everything totally…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chogyam-trungpa/the-everyday-practice-is-simply-to-develop-a-complete-acceptance-and/) [Chogyam Trungpa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chogyam-trungpa/) > [And then there are difficulties. Computers are famous for difficulties. A difficulty is just a blockage from progress. You have to try a lot…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ward-cunningham/and-then-there-are-difficulties-computers-are-famous-for-difficulties/) [Ward Cunningham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ward-cunningham/) > [I want the public to know the truth, not every condition affecting the heart comes from a blockage.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-atkins/i-want-the-public-to-know-the-truth-not-every-condition-affecting-the/) [Robert Atkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-atkins/) [Browse all 16 Blockage quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/blockage/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Anyone who lives in a city will know the feeling of having been there too long. The gorge-vision that the streets imprint on us, the sense of blockage, the longing for surfaces other than glass, brick, concrete and tarmac…I have lived in Cambridge on and off for a decade, and I imagine I will continue to do so for years to come. 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