--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: A thousand policemen directing traffic…" description: "\"A thousand policemen directing traffic cannot tell you why you come or where you go.\" — T. S. Eliot" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/23d/t-s-eliot-633_planning_a-thousand-policemen-directing-traffic-c_1890103.png" --- # A thousand policemen directing traffic cannot tell you why… ![“A thousand policemen directing traffic cannot tell you why you come or where you go.” quote by T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/23d/t-s-eliot-633_planning_a-thousand-policemen-directing-traffic-c_1890103.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/23d/t-s-eliot-633_planning_a-thousand-policemen-directing-traffic-c_1890103.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/23d/t-s-eliot-633_planning_a-thousand-policemen-directing-traffic-c_1890103.png) > “A thousand policemen directing traffic cannot tell you why you come or where you go.” [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Authority cannot dictate personal destiny; individuals must choose their own paths. **In simple terms:** You decide your own direction, not the police. Key Takeaway Trust your inner compass over external control. Themes individualism freedom authority Mood contemplative introspective Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - career decisions - personal relationships - life planning Key Concepts existential choice self‑determination Questions to Reflect On - What internal compass guides you? - When should you heed external advice? A Different Perspective External guidance may still be valuable in complex situations. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Directing Traffic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/directing-traffic-1598336/) [Planning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/planning/) [Policemen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/policemen/) [Policemen Directing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/policemen-directing-2724265/) [Thousand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thousand/) [Thousand Policemen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thousand-policemen-2724266/) [Traffic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/traffic/) [Traffic Tell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/traffic-tell-2724267/) [Urban](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/urban/) [Urban planning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/urban-planning/) ## Related quotes > [If a policeman must know the Constitution, then why not a planner?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-j-brennan/if-a-policeman-must-know-the-constitution-then-why-not-a-planner/) [William J. Brennan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-j-brennan/) > [We still have not been able to move into those positions in our country that are really directing traffic among that 1 percent, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/claire-mccaskill/we-still-have-not-been-able-to-move-into-those-positions-in-our/) [Claire McCaskill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/claire-mccaskill/) > [Some directors will tell you what to do: stand here, walk over there, sit down. That is the most basic kind of approach, like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrian-lester/some-directors-will-tell-you-what-to-do-stand-here-walk-over-there/) [Adrian Lester](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrian-lester/) > [“I thought there was nothing more worthwile or more respectable than directing the traffic, going from red to green and green to red in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/delphine-de-vigan/i-thought-there-was-nothing-more-worthwile-or-more-respectable-than/) [Delphine de Vigan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/delphine-de-vigan/) > [A plan that everyone dislikes for different reasons is a success. A plan everyone dislikes for the same reason is a failure. A plan…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-carson/a-plan-that-everyone-dislikes-for-different-reasons-is-a-success-a/) [Richard Carson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-carson/) > [“Planning is for the world's great cities, for Paris, London, and Rome, for cities dedicated, at some level, to culture. Detroit, on the other…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeffrey-eugenides/planning-is-for-the-world-s-great-cities-for-paris-london-and-rome/) [Jeffrey Eugenides](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeffrey-eugenides/) > [“Ahhh, God's balls! The Horrible Halt!" Adoulla pronounced the Dhamsawaati term for the complete standstill of traffic with a familiar disgust.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saladin-ahmed/ahhh-god-s-balls-the-horrible-halt-adoulla-pronounced-the-dhamsawaati/) [Saladin Ahmed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saladin-ahmed/) > [“There are fashions in building. Behind the fashions lie economic and technological reasons, and these fashions exclude all but a few genuinely different possibilities…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-jacobs/there-are-fashions-in-building-behind-the-fashions-lie-economic-and/) [Jane Jacobs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-jacobs/) > [Those who plan do better than those who do not plan, even should they rarely stick to their plan.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/winston-churchill/those-who-plan-do-better-than-those-who-do-not-plan-even-should-they/) [Winston Churchill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/winston-churchill/) > [There's a simple solution to our traffic problems. We'll have business build the roads, and government build the cars.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-rogers/there-s-a-simple-solution-to-our-traffic-problems-we-ll-have-business/) [Will Rogers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-rogers/) > [ Architects in urban planning are talking about this but they're not talking about it yet I don't think at that level that \[Buckminster\] Fuller… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathon-keats/architects-in-urban-planning-are-talking-about-this-but-they-re-not/) [Jonathon Keats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathon-keats/) > [“Probably the most important element in intricacy is centering. Good small parks typically have a place somewhere within them commonly understood to be the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-jacobs/probably-the-most-important-element-in-intricacy-is-centering-good/) [Jane Jacobs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-jacobs/) > [In traditional cities like Beijing, Nanjing, and Hangzhou, nature was a very important part of urban planning - not only as a landscape but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ma-yansong/in-traditional-cities-like-beijing-nanjing-and-hangzhou-nature-was-a/) [Ma Yansong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ma-yansong/) > [I feel however, that we architects have a special duty and mission... (to contribute) to the socio-cultural development of architecture and urban planning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenzo-tange/i-feel-however-that-we-architects-have-a-special-duty-and-mission-to/) [Kenzo Tange](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenzo-tange/) > [I've often thought that if planners were botanists, zoologists, geologists, and people who know about the earth, we would have much more wisdom in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-o-douglas/i-ve-often-thought-that-if-planners-were-botanists-zoologists/) [William O. Douglas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-o-douglas/) ## More by T. S. Eliot > [The Nobel is a ticket to one's own funeral. No one has ever done anything after he got it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/the-nobel-is-a-ticket-to-one-s-own-funeral-no-one-has-ever-done/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [Dear Mother, I am getting on nicely in my work at the bank, and like it ... I want to find out something about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/dear-mother-i-am-getting-on-nicely-in-my-work-at-the-bank-and-like-it/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [For love would be love of the wrong thing; there is yet faith, But the faith and the love and the hope are all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/for-love-would-be-love-of-the-wrong-thing-there-is-yet-faith-but-the/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [We must always take risks. That is our destiny.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/we-must-always-take-risks-that-is-our-destiny/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [All significant truths are private truths. As they become public they cease to become truths; they become facts, or at best, part of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/all-significant-truths-are-private-truths-as-they-become-public-they/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [When forced to work within a strict framework, the imagination is taxed to its utmost and will produce its richest ideas. Given total freedom,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/when-forced-to-work-within-a-strict-framework-the-imagination-is/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [Honest criticism and sensitive appreciation are directed not upon the poet but upon the poetry.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/honest-criticism-and-sensitive-appreciation-are-directed-not-upon-the/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [Desire itself is movement Not in itself desirable; Love is itself unmoving, Only the cause and end of movement, Timeless, and undesiring Except in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/desire-itself-is-movement-not-in-itself-desirable-love-is-itself/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [ the ordinary man's experience is chaotic, irregular, fragmentary. \[He\] falls in love or reads Spinoza, and these two experiences have nothing to do with… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/the-ordinary-man-s-experience-is-chaotic-irregular-fragmentary-he/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [We had the experience, but we missed the meaning.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/we-had-the-experience-but-we-missed-the-meaning/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [The end is in the beginning.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/the-end-is-in-the-beginning/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [You have learned enough to see that cats are much like you and me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/you-have-learned-enough-to-see-that-cats-are-much-like-you-and-me/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [The good poet welds his theft into a whole of feeling which is unique, utterly different than that from which it is torn.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/the-good-poet-welds-his-theft-into-a-whole-of-feeling-which-is-unique/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [It's strange that words are so inadequate. Yet, like the asthmatic struggling for breath, so the lover must struggle for words.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/it-s-strange-that-words-are-so-inadequate-yet-like-the-asthmatic/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [Every end is a beginning...And every beginning is an end.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/every-end-is-a-beginning-and-every-beginning-is-an-end/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) [Explore all 433 T. S. Eliot quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) ## More Planning quotes > [I did not know that the planning for biological and chemical warfare was so widespread in England, and even in France before France fell.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholson-baker/i-did-not-know-that-the-planning-for-biological-and-chemical-warfare/) [Nicholson Baker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholson-baker/) > [Whether you are buying a car or casting a ballot, choosing a job or planning a family, follow your moral compass. Don't let others…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/denis-hayes/whether-you-are-buying-a-car-or-casting-a-ballot-choosing-a-job-or/) [Denis Hayes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/denis-hayes/) > [Weekend planning is a prime time to apply the Deathbed Priority Test: On your deathbed, will you wish you'd spent more prime weekend hours…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hal-borland/weekend-planning-is-a-prime-time-to-apply-the-deathbed-priority-test/) [Hal Borland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hal-borland/) > [Elevated locations imply elevated purposes, even in American cities departing as radically as Los Angeles does from the traditional planning patterns of the Eastern…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-filler/elevated-locations-imply-elevated-purposes-even-in-american-cities/) [Martin Filler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-filler/) > [Koresh believed that God had a plan that would go contrary to any human planning.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-thibodeau/koresh-believed-that-god-had-a-plan-that-would-go-contrary-to-any/) [David Thibodeau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-thibodeau/) > [God's plans are never beyond your reach, sometimes you just have to move closer.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/justin-lee-riner/god-s-plans-are-never-beyond-your-reach-sometimes-you-just-have-to/) [Justin Lee Riner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/justin-lee-riner/) > [Grand business plans are all very well, but nothing beats dipping your toe in the water.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/baron-bilimoria-karan-bilimoria/grand-business-plans-are-all-very-well-but-nothing-beats-dipping-your/) [Baron Bilimoria Karan Bilimoria](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/baron-bilimoria-karan-bilimoria/) > [Let your mind be its own and enjoy what you can not all things in life are in need of a plan.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jamie-timbre/let-your-mind-be-its-own-and-enjoy-what-you-can-not-all-things-in/) [Jamie Timbre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jamie-timbre/) > [At LearnVest, we're working to make financial planning both accessible and affordable so that everyone has the opportunity to get on track financially.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexa-von-tobel/at-learnvest-we-re-working-to-make-financial-planning-both-accessible/) [Alexa Von Tobel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexa-von-tobel/) > [“It is one thing being disciplined to plan and it is another thing being a disciple of great work. Be your own disciplinarian.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/israelmore-ayivor/it-is-one-thing-being-disciplined-to-plan-and-it-is-another-thing/) [Israelmore Ayivor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/israelmore-ayivor/) > [As a result of reading science fiction when I was eight, I grew up with an interest in music, architecture, city planning, transportation, politics,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-bradbury/as-a-result-of-reading-science-fiction-when-i-was-eight-i-grew-up/) [Ray Bradbury](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-bradbury/) > [No matter how sad we might be, the universe is still planning our happiness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-williamson/no-matter-how-sad-we-might-be-the-universe-is-still-planning-our/) [Marianne Williamson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-williamson/) > [I can tell you who's planning terroris attacks. The leaders of ISIL. And I can tell you where they're at. They're in Raqqa, Syria.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rand-paul/i-can-tell-you-who-s-planning-terroris-attacks-the-leaders-of-isil/) [Rand Paul](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rand-paul/) > [Be much alone with God, and take time to get thoroughly acquainted. Converse over everything with Him. Unburden yourself wholly -every thought, feeling, wish,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/horatius-bonar/be-much-alone-with-god-and-take-time-to-get-thoroughly-acquainted/) [Horatius Bonar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/horatius-bonar/) > [Stephen Colbert's recent comment is apropos: When the Republican legislature of North Carolina responded to a scientific study predicting a threatening rise in sea…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noam-chomsky/stephen-colbert-s-recent-comment-is-apropos-when-the-republican/) [Noam Chomsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noam-chomsky/) [Browse all 1,995 Planning quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/planning/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "A thousand policemen directing traffic cannot tell you why you come or where you go.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "T. S. 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