--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I prefer the edge: the place where…" description: "\"“I prefer the edge: the place where countries, communities, allegiances, affinities, and roots bump uncomfortably up against one another—where cosmopol..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/535/tony-judt-1730_cosmopolitan_i-prefer-the-edge-the-place-where-countr_1249295.jpg" --- # I prefer the edge: the place where countries, communities… ![“I prefer the edge: the place where countries, communities, allegiances, affinities, and roots bump uncomfortably up against one another—where cosmopolitanism is not so much an identity as the normal condition of life. Such places once abounded. Well into the twentieth century there were many…” quote by Tony Judt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/535/tony-judt-1730_cosmopolitan_i-prefer-the-edge-the-place-where-countr_1249295.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/535/tony-judt-1730_cosmopolitan_i-prefer-the-edge-the-place-where-countr_1249295.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/535/tony-judt-1730_cosmopolitan_i-prefer-the-edge-the-place-where-countr_1249295.jpg) > ““I prefer the edge: the place where countries, communities, allegiances, affinities, and roots bump uncomfortably up against one another—where cosmopolitanism is not so much an identity as the normal condition of life. Such places once abounded. Well into the twentieth century there were many cities comprising multiple communities and languages—often mutually antagonistic, occasionally clashing, but somehow coexisting. Sarajevo was one, Alexandria another. Tangiers, Salonica, Odessa, Beirut, and Istanbul all qualified—as did smaller towns like Chernovitz and Uzhhorod. By the standards of American conformism, New York resembles aspects of these lost cosmopolitan cities: that is why I live here.”” [Tony Judt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-judt/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The quote highlights how vibrant, multicultural cities thrive on the tension and interaction of diverse groups, suggesting modern urban life mirrors these historic cosmopolitan hubs. **In simple terms:** Cities thrive on diverse, intersecting cultures. Key Takeaway Embrace cultural tension as a source of vitality. Themes cosmopolitanism urban life diversity identity history Mood reflective nostalgic analytical Type philosophical observational When to use this quote - city planning - community building - immigration policy - education curricula - personal travel Key Concepts cultural interaction social dynamics urban sociology Questions to Reflect On - How can we foster inclusive coexistence today? - What tensions arise in modern multicultural cities? A Different Perspective Idealized past may overlook conflict and inequality. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Communities Allegiances](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/communities-allegiances-3930281/) [Cosmopolitan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cosmopolitan/) [Cosmopolitan Cities](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cosmopolitan-cities-3930278/) [Cosmopolitanism Identity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cosmopolitanism-identity-3930279/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Patriotism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/patriotism/) [Uncomfortably Cosmopolitanism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/uncomfortably-cosmopolitanism-3930280/) ## Related quotes > [It's a kind of madness in cosmopolitan cities now.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sean-connery/it-s-a-kind-of-madness-in-cosmopolitan-cities-now/) [Sean Connery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sean-connery/) > [I go for cosmopolitan cities, and I like to be in the middle of everything.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-urie/i-go-for-cosmopolitan-cities-and-i-like-to-be-in-the-middle-of/) [Michael Urie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-urie/) > [I remember when I was young, many cities in the Muslim world were cosmopolitan cities with a lot of culture.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/i-remember-when-i-was-young-many-cities-in-the-muslim-world-were/) [Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/) > [“Who are theologians? What kind of self-identity could or should a theologian claim? Should a theologian be a defender or transmitter of Christian \_tradition\_?…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/namsoon-kang/who-are-theologians-what-kind-of-self-identity-could-or-should-a/) [Namsoon Kang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/namsoon-kang/) > [“What could be more fundamental to our sense of meaning and purpose than a conception of whether the strivings of the human race over…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-pinker/what-could-be-more-fundamental-to-our-sense-of-meaning-and-purpose/) [Steven Pinker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pinker/) > [“the overall theme of theology can be twofold: the search for meaning and the responsibility one has to the others.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/namsoon-kang/the-overall-theme-of-theology-can-be-twofold-the-search-for-meaning/) [Namsoon Kang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/namsoon-kang/) > [I wanted a literate, socially intricate, and cosmopolitan world - something I could have fun destroying.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-scott-bakker/i-wanted-a-literate-socially-intricate-and-cosmopolitan-world/) [R. Scott Bakker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-scott-bakker/) > [All good men are international. Nearly all bad men are cosmopolitan. If we are to be international we must be national.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/all-good-men-are-international-nearly-all-bad-men-are-cosmopolitan-if/) [Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) > [My parents are very modern. My father is a cosmopolitan person. He always supported the fact that I will be an actress. There is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kareena-kapoor-khan/my-parents-are-very-modern-my-father-is-a-cosmopolitan-person-he/) [Kareena Kapoor Khan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kareena-kapoor-khan/) > [New York is at once cosmopolitan and parochial, a compendium of sentimental certainties. It is in fact the most sentimental of the world's great…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-gregory-dunne/new-york-is-at-once-cosmopolitan-and-parochial-a-compendium-of/) [John Gregory Dunne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-gregory-dunne/) > [For those who struggle with anti-pagan prejudices and stereotypes, Humanist Paganism might be a powerful educational tool. It can show that a pagan can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brendan-myers/for-those-who-struggle-with-anti-pagan-prejudices-and-stereotypes/) [Brendan Myers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brendan-myers/) > [I love downtown Seattle. It's a city that has all of the outdoor activities and is still a very cosmopolitan city.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/greg-lemond/i-love-downtown-seattle-it-s-a-city-that-has-all-of-the-outdoor/) [Greg LeMond](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/greg-lemond/) > [“I believe theology should be about one's way of life, a kind of gaze into onesself and others, and a mode of one's profound…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/namsoon-kang/i-believe-theology-should-be-about-one-s-way-of-life-a-kind-of-gaze/) [Namsoon Kang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/namsoon-kang/) > [“Cosmopolitan theology affirms and radicalizes the belief that the Divine creates each and every human being as equal to every one else as a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/namsoon-kang/cosmopolitan-theology-affirms-and-radicalizes-the-belief-that-the/) [Namsoon Kang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/namsoon-kang/) > [“I want to affirm that thinking and living, knowing and doing, theory and practice intersect.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/namsoon-kang/i-want-to-affirm-that-thinking-and-living-knowing-and-doing-theory/) [Namsoon Kang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/namsoon-kang/) ## More by Tony Judt > [I don't believe in an afterlife. I don't believe in a single or multiple godhead. I respect people who do, but I don't believe…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-judt/i-don-t-believe-in-an-afterlife-i-don-t-believe-in-a-single-or/) [Tony Judt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-judt/) > [“Markets do not automatically generate trust, cooperation or collective action for the common good. Quite the contrary: it is in the nature of economic…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-judt/markets-do-not-automatically-generate-trust-cooperation-or-collective/) [Tony Judt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-judt/) > [“ Lieux de memoire . . . 'exist because there are no longer any milieux de memoire , settings in which memory is a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-judt/lieux-de-memoire-exist-because-there-are-no-longer-any-milieux-de/) [Tony Judt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-judt/) > [“Keynes died in 1946, exhausted by his wartime efforts. But he had long since demonstrated that neither capitalism nor liberalism would survive very long…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-judt/keynes-died-in-1946-exhausted-by-his-wartime-efforts-but-he-had-long/) [Tony Judt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-judt/) > [The Second World War had a precipitating effect in that it discredited the empires, as well as bankrupting them. Not only could you no…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-judt/the-second-world-war-had-a-precipitating-effect-in-that-it/) [Tony Judt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-judt/) > [“That the state might exceed its remit and damage the market by distorting its operations was not taken very seriously in these years.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-judt/that-the-state-might-exceed-its-remit-and-damage-the-market-by/) [Tony Judt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-judt/) > [“Whatever their other differences, French Gaullists, Christian Democrats and Socialists shared a common faith in the activist state, economic planning and large-scale public investment.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-judt/whatever-their-other-differences-french-gaullists-christian-democrats/) [Tony Judt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-judt/) > [I think if I'm controversial it's not because I set out to be. It's because I've never felt comfortable being part of someone else's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-judt/i-think-if-i-m-controversial-it-s-not-because-i-set-out-to-be-it-s/) [Tony Judt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-judt/) > [“This reduction of 'society' to a thin membrane of interactions between private individuals is presented today as the ambition of libertarians and free marketeers.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-judt/this-reduction-of-society-to-a-thin-membrane-of-interactions-between/) [Tony Judt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-judt/) > [“Something is profoundly wrong with the way we live today. For thirty years we have made a virtue out of the pursuit of material…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-judt/something-is-profoundly-wrong-with-the-way-we-live-today-for-thirty/) [Tony Judt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-judt/) > [“Today, neither Left nor Right can find their footing.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-judt/today-neither-left-nor-right-can-find-their-footing/) [Tony Judt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-judt/) > [We have responsibilities for others, not just across space but across time. We have responsibilities to people who came before us. They left us…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-judt/we-have-responsibilities-for-others-not-just-across-space-but-across/) [Tony Judt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-judt/) > [“What did trust, cooperation, progressive taxation and the interventionist state bequeath to western societies in the decades following 1945? The short answer is, in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-judt/what-did-trust-cooperation-progressive-taxation-and-the/) [Tony Judt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-judt/) > [Healthcare reform is a paradigmatic case. It is self-evidently necessary and inevitable and has been on the agenda for 35 years, and the political…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-judt/healthcare-reform-is-a-paradigmatic-case-it-is-self-evidently/) [Tony Judt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-judt/) > [“Inequality is corrosive. It rots societies from within.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-judt/inequality-is-corrosive-it-rots-societies-from-within/) [Tony Judt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-judt/) [Explore all 211 Tony Judt quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-judt/) ## More Cosmopolitan quotes > [“I want to affirm that thinking and living, knowing and doing, theory and practice intersect.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/namsoon-kang/i-want-to-affirm-that-thinking-and-living-knowing-and-doing-theory/) [Namsoon Kang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/namsoon-kang/) > [“Cosmopolitan theology affirms and radicalizes the belief that the Divine creates each and every human being as equal to every one else as a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/namsoon-kang/cosmopolitan-theology-affirms-and-radicalizes-the-belief-that-the/) [Namsoon Kang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/namsoon-kang/) > [“I believe theology should be about one's way of life, a kind of gaze into onesself and others, and a mode of one's profound…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/namsoon-kang/i-believe-theology-should-be-about-one-s-way-of-life-a-kind-of-gaze/) [Namsoon Kang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/namsoon-kang/) > [I love downtown Seattle. It's a city that has all of the outdoor activities and is still a very cosmopolitan city.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/greg-lemond/i-love-downtown-seattle-it-s-a-city-that-has-all-of-the-outdoor/) [Greg LeMond](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/greg-lemond/) > [For those who struggle with anti-pagan prejudices and stereotypes, Humanist Paganism might be a powerful educational tool. It can show that a pagan can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brendan-myers/for-those-who-struggle-with-anti-pagan-prejudices-and-stereotypes/) [Brendan Myers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brendan-myers/) > [New York is at once cosmopolitan and parochial, a compendium of sentimental certainties. It is in fact the most sentimental of the world's great…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-gregory-dunne/new-york-is-at-once-cosmopolitan-and-parochial-a-compendium-of/) [John Gregory Dunne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-gregory-dunne/) > [My parents are very modern. My father is a cosmopolitan person. He always supported the fact that I will be an actress. There is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kareena-kapoor-khan/my-parents-are-very-modern-my-father-is-a-cosmopolitan-person-he/) [Kareena Kapoor Khan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kareena-kapoor-khan/) > [All good men are international. Nearly all bad men are cosmopolitan. If we are to be international we must be national.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/all-good-men-are-international-nearly-all-bad-men-are-cosmopolitan-if/) [Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) > [I wanted a literate, socially intricate, and cosmopolitan world - something I could have fun destroying.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-scott-bakker/i-wanted-a-literate-socially-intricate-and-cosmopolitan-world/) [R. Scott Bakker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-scott-bakker/) > [“the overall theme of theology can be twofold: the search for meaning and the responsibility one has to the others.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/namsoon-kang/the-overall-theme-of-theology-can-be-twofold-the-search-for-meaning/) [Namsoon Kang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/namsoon-kang/) > [“What could be more fundamental to our sense of meaning and purpose than a conception of whether the strivings of the human race over…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-pinker/what-could-be-more-fundamental-to-our-sense-of-meaning-and-purpose/) [Steven Pinker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pinker/) > [“Who are theologians? What kind of self-identity could or should a theologian claim? Should a theologian be a defender or transmitter of Christian \_tradition\_?…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/namsoon-kang/who-are-theologians-what-kind-of-self-identity-could-or-should-a/) [Namsoon Kang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/namsoon-kang/) > [I go for cosmopolitan cities, and I like to be in the middle of everything.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-urie/i-go-for-cosmopolitan-cities-and-i-like-to-be-in-the-middle-of/) [Michael Urie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-urie/) > [“Roosevelt loved the subtleties of human relations...He was sensitive to nuances in a way that Harry Truman never was and never would be. Truman,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-mccullough/roosevelt-loved-the-subtleties-of-human-relations-he-was-sensitive-to/) [David McCullough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-mccullough/) > [I come from rather an international, or in other words, a cosmopolitan background.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-blake/i-come-from-rather-an-international-or-in-other-words-a-cosmopolitan/) [George Blake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-blake/) [Browse all 110 Cosmopolitan quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cosmopolitan/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“I prefer the edge: the place where countries, communities, allegiances, affinities, and roots bump uncomfortably up against one another—where cosmopolitanism is not so much an identity as the normal condition of life. Such places once abounded. Well into the twentieth century there were many cities comprising multiple communities and languages—often mutually antagonistic, occasionally clashing, but somehow coexisting. Sarajevo was one, Alexandria another. Tangiers, Salonica, Odessa, Beirut, and Istanbul all qualified—as did smaller towns like Chernovitz and Uzhhorod. 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