--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Going about one's native land one is…" description: "\"“Going about one's native land one is inclined to take many things for granted, roads and buildings, roofs, windows and doorways, the walls that shelte..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a9b/victor-hugo-32_native-land_going-about-one-s-native-land-one-is-inc_1894488.jpg" --- # Going about one's native land one is inclined to take many… ![“Going about one's native land one is inclined to take many things for granted, roads and buildings, roofs, windows and doorways, the walls that shelter strangers, the house one has never entered, trees which are like other trees, pavements which are no more than cobblestones. But when we are…” quote by Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a9b/victor-hugo-32_native-land_going-about-one-s-native-land-one-is-inc_1894488.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a9b/victor-hugo-32_native-land_going-about-one-s-native-land-one-is-inc_1894488.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a9b/victor-hugo-32_native-land_going-about-one-s-native-land-one-is-inc_1894488.jpg) > ““Going about one's native land one is inclined to take many things for granted, roads and buildings, roofs, windows and doorways, the walls that shelter strangers, the house one has never entered, trees which are like other trees, pavements which are no more than cobblestones. But when we are distant from them we find that those things have become dear to us, a street, trees and roofs, blank walls, doors and windows; we have entered those houses without knowing it, we have left something of our heart in the very stonework. Those places we no longer see, perhaps will never see again but still remember, have acquired and aching charm; they return to us with the melancholy of ghosts, a hallowed vision and as it were the true face of France. We love and evoke them such as they were; and such as to us they still are, we cling to them and will not have them altered, for the face of our country is our mother's face.”” [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Familiar places become precious when distant, evoking nostalgia and identity. **In simple terms:** Distance makes us cherish home. Key Takeaway Value and preserve your cultural roots. Themes nostalgia identity place memory Mood reflective melancholy Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - immigration - travel - urban redevelopment - personal reflection Key Concepts cultural heritage psychology of belonging urban change Questions to Reflect On - What places shape your identity? - How do you keep memories alive? A Different Perspective Nostalgia may idealize the past unrealistically. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Native land](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/native-land/) [Patriotism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/patriotism/) [Strangers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/strangers/) ## Related quotes > [Here, we tell the story: why the people came here, what they did when they got here, going back to the Native Americans and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-patterson/here-we-tell-the-story-why-the-people-came-here-what-they-did-when/) [Robert Patterson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-patterson/) > [In my normal way of doing things, there's a little bit of 'going native' that takes place, where you're in a world long enough,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louis-theroux/in-my-normal-way-of-doing-things-there-s-a-little-bit-of-going-native/) [Louis Theroux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louis-theroux/) > [“We were happy and powerful. But the Europeans came to our country; it was from them that I learned the accomplishments which you appeared…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/we-were-happy-and-powerful-but-the-europeans-came-to-our-country-it/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [Great perils have this beauty, that they bring to light the fraternity of strangers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/great-perils-have-this-beauty-that-they-bring-to-light-the-fraternity/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [“I often imagine what our lives would be like without trees. We won't even dwell on the fact that our atmosphere would be sorely…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alain-baraton/i-often-imagine-what-our-lives-would-be-like-without-trees-we-won-t/) Alain Baraton > [If your parents only listen to jazz or folk, you're like one of those trees you see in botanic gardens that have wire frames…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kt-tunstall/if-your-parents-only-listen-to-jazz-or-folk-you-re-like-one-of-those/) [KT Tunstall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kt-tunstall/) > [Not just beautiful, though--the stars are like the trees in the forest, alive and breathing. And they're watching me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/haruki-murakami/not-just-beautiful-though-the-stars-are-like-the-trees-in-the-forest/) [Haruki Murakami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/haruki-murakami/) > [I wanted to create comics as soon as a I learned humans were behind them, that they were not natural phenomena like trees and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/art-spiegelman/i-wanted-to-create-comics-as-soon-as-a-i-learned-humans-were-behind/) [Art Spiegelman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/art-spiegelman/) > [Relationships are like trees, they're deeply rooted and not shaken by life's storms.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ocean-kusher/relationships-are-like-trees-they-re-deeply-rooted-and-not-shaken-by/) [Ocean Kusher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ocean-kusher/) > [I like trees because they seem more resigned to the way they have to live than other things do.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willa-cather/i-like-trees-because-they-seem-more-resigned-to-the-way-they-have-to/) [Willa Cather](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willa-cather/) > [“We are misidentified—because we ourselves keep growing, keep changing,127 we shed our old bark, we shed our skins every spring, we keep becoming younger,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/we-are-misidentified-because-we-ourselves-keep-growing-keep-changing/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [People don't remember each tree in a park but all of us benefit from the trees. And in a way, artists are like trees…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yoko-ono/people-don-t-remember-each-tree-in-a-park-but-all-of-us-benefit-from/) [Yoko Ono](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yoko-ono/) > [People are like trees, the leaves are many but the root is one and remember only a good foundation guarantees success and longevity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vikrant-parsai/people-are-like-trees-the-leaves-are-many-but-the-root-is-one-and/) [Vikrant Parsai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vikrant-parsai/) > [Bestfriends are like toilet paper,they help you wipe away your mistakes..their also like trees,you can tell them anything..even though they are not listening:)](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joekidia-sims/bestfriends-are-like-toilet-paper-they-help-you-wipe-away-your/) [Joekidia Sims](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joekidia-sims/) > [“I like trees, they will someday be books.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nick-pageant/i-like-trees-they-will-someday-be-books/) [Nick Pageant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nick-pageant/) ## More by Victor Hugo > [Houses are like the human beings that inhabit them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/houses-are-like-the-human-beings-that-inhabit-them/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [“There is still a certain grace in a dead festival. It has been happy.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/there-is-still-a-certain-grace-in-a-dead-festival-it-has-been-happy/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [He caught her, she fell, he caught her in his arms, he held her tightly unconscious of what he was doing. He held her…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/he-caught-her-she-fell-he-caught-her-in-his-arms-he-held-her-tightly/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [“First I loved women, then animals, and now I love stones. They're just as amusing as women and animals and they're much less trecherous.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/first-i-loved-women-then-animals-and-now-i-love-stones-they-re-just/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [Nature is pitiless; she never withdraws her flowers, her music, her fragrance, and her sunlight from before human cruelty or suffering.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/nature-is-pitiless-she-never-withdraws-her-flowers-her-music-her/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [“Have courage for the great sorrows of life, and patience for the small ones. 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She did not know whether it was good or evil, beneficent or dangerous, necessary…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/loving-in-ignorance-she-loved-with-all-the-more-passion-she-did-not/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [Laughter is the sun that drives winter from the human face.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/laughter-is-the-sun-that-drives-winter-from-the-human-face/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [“Our joys have shadows. The perfect smile belongs to God alone.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/our-joys-have-shadows-the-perfect-smile-belongs-to-god-alone/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [“When those we love are in question, our prudence invents every sort of madness.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/when-those-we-love-are-in-question-our-prudence-invents-every-sort-of/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [Love is a fault; so be it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/love-is-a-fault-so-be-it/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) [Explore all 2,181 Victor Hugo quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) ## More Native land quotes > [My days – the blossom of my youth and the flower of my manhood – have been darkened by the dreariness of servitude. In…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-o-connell/my-days-the-blossom-of-my-youth-and-the-flower-of-my-manhood-have/) [Daniel O'Connell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-o-connell/) > [Whatever strengthens our local attachments is favorable both to individual and national character, our home, our birthplace, our native land. Think for a while…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-southey/whatever-strengthens-our-local-attachments-is-favorable-both-to/) [Robert Southey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-southey/) > [I go back to Toronto each off season and feel renewed every time I cross the border to my home and native land.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joey-votto/i-go-back-to-toronto-each-off-season-and-feel-renewed-every-time-i/) [Joey Votto](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joey-votto/) > [If European symbols and traditions have grown tired, perfunctory and oppressively banal in Australia, or been drained of spirit and meaning by the dreary…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-leunig/if-european-symbols-and-traditions-have-grown-tired-perfunctory-and/) [Michael Leunig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-leunig/) > [“I write a few lines in haste to say that I am safe—and well advanced on my voyage. This letter will reach England by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-shelley/i-write-a-few-lines-in-haste-to-say-that-i-am-safe-and-well-advanced/) [Mary Shelley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-shelley/) > [In our own native land, in defense of the freedom that is our birthright and which we ever enjoyed till the late violation of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/in-our-own-native-land-in-defense-of-the-freedom-that-is-our/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [“I do not know, to my shame, any spot in my native land where I should have been so warmly received by the same…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-louis-stevenson/i-do-not-know-to-my-shame-any-spot-in-my-native-land-where-i-should/) [Robert Louis Stevenson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-louis-stevenson/) > [“To hear this pretty childish voice speaking his own language so simply and charmingly made him feel almost as if he were in his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frances-hodgson-burnett/to-hear-this-pretty-childish-voice-speaking-his-own-language-so/) [Frances Hodgson Burnett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frances-hodgson-burnett/) > [“In the landscape of my native land, a stranger in my own fields, --I had a homeland where the Duero flows between gray cliffs…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/antonio-machado/in-the-landscape-of-my-native-land-a-stranger-in-my-own-fields-i-had/) [Antonio Machado](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/antonio-machado/) > [“It is your duty,' he said, 'to recover your country not by gold but by the sword. You will be fighting with all you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/livy/it-is-your-duty-he-said-to-recover-your-country-not-by-gold-but-by/) [Livy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/livy/) > [“It is more than their land that you take away from the people, whose Native land you take. It is their past as well,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isak-dinesen/it-is-more-than-their-land-that-you-take-away-from-the-people-whose/) [Isak Dinesen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isak-dinesen/) > [Cling to thy native land, for it is the land of thy fathers?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-schiller/cling-to-thy-native-land-for-it-is-the-land-of-thy-fathers/) [Friedrich Schiller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-schiller/) > [“We were happy and powerful. But the Europeans came to our country; it was from them that I learned the accomplishments which you appeared…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/we-were-happy-and-powerful-but-the-europeans-came-to-our-country-it/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [“There is no substitute to living in one's native land, struggling and winning with one's own people.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mario-i-miclat/there-is-no-substitute-to-living-in-one-s-native-land-struggling-and/) Mario I. Miclat > [“...Tis the center to which all gravitates. One finds no rest elswhere than here. There may be other cities that please us for a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-wadsworth-longfellow/tis-the-center-to-which-all-gravitates-one-finds-no-rest-elswhere/) [Henry Wadsworth Longfellow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-wadsworth-longfellow/) [Browse all 132 Native land quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/native-land/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Going about one's native land one is inclined to take many things for granted, roads and buildings, roofs, windows and doorways, the walls that shelter strangers, the house one has never entered, trees which are like other trees, pavements which are no more than cobblestones. But when we are distant from them we find that those things have become dear to us, a street, trees and roofs, blank walls, doors and windows; we have entered those houses without knowing it, we have left something of our heart in the very stonework. 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