--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: What strikes me about Toronto is that…" description: "\"What strikes me about Toronto is that Toronto's great misfortune was to have too much money in the late 70s and early 80s, and consequently, it built i..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e4d/william-gibson-642_80s_what-strikes-me-about-toronto-is-that-to_2038460.png" --- # What strikes me about Toronto is that Toronto's great… ![“What strikes me about Toronto is that Toronto's great misfortune was to have too much money in the late 70s and early 80s, and consequently, it built in the style of those periods, which is hideous.” quote by William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e4d/william-gibson-642_80s_what-strikes-me-about-toronto-is-that-to_2038460.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e4d/william-gibson-642_80s_what-strikes-me-about-toronto-is-that-to_2038460.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e4d/william-gibson-642_80s_what-strikes-me-about-toronto-is-that-to_2038460.png) > “What strikes me about Toronto is that Toronto's great misfortune was to have too much money in the late 70s and early 80s, and consequently, it built in the style of those periods, which is hideous.” [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Gibson critiques Toronto’s 1970s‑80s development, saying excess wealth led to unattractive, era‑specific design. **In simple terms:** Too much money produced ugly, dated buildings. Key Takeaway Avoid over‑spending on trendy designs. Themes urban planning architecture wealth historical style aesthetic criticism Mood critical reflective Type analytical commentary When to use this quote - city planning meetings - real estate development - heritage preservation - public policy debates Key Concepts modernism urban economics design cycles Questions to Reflect On - How does wealth influence city aesthetics? - Can dated architecture be repurposed positively? A Different Perspective The critique may overlook functional benefits of those structures. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Misfortunes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/misfortunes/) [Money](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/money/) [Strikes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/strikes/) [Style](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/style/) ## Related quotes > [It's easy for me to care about Toronto, because Toronto is a community that cares about itself. It represents the world. It talks to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yo-yo-ma/it-s-easy-for-me-to-care-about-toronto-because-toronto-is-a-community/) [Yo-Yo Ma](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yo-yo-ma/) > [Ttons of movies are shot in Toronto, but Toronto is never Toronto.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eugene-levy/ttons-of-movies-are-shot-in-toronto-but-toronto-is-never-toronto/) [Eugene Levy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eugene-levy/) > [I've done quite a few television shows in Toronto, and it's a great city.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/soupy-sales/i-ve-done-quite-a-few-television-shows-in-toronto-and-it-s-a-great/) [Soupy Sales](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/soupy-sales/) > [The Yankees won the pennant, we went on to the World Series, 41 years after that in the city of Toronto. The great city…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dave-winfield/the-yankees-won-the-pennant-we-went-on-to-the-world-series-41-years/) [Dave Winfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dave-winfield/) > [I used to go to Maple Leafs games all the time when Nic shot To Die For here in Toronto. This is a great…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-cruise/i-used-to-go-to-maple-leafs-games-all-the-time-when-nic-shot-to-die/) [Tom Cruise](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-cruise/) > [Toronto is a great city.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonas-valanciunas/toronto-is-a-great-city/) [Jonas Valanciunas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonas-valanciunas/) > [ I look at \[Toronto\] and think well, perhaps my grandchildren will someday look at this stuff with the sort of appreciation I once held… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/i-look-at-toronto-and-think-well-perhaps-my-grandchildren-will/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [ Somehow I think that if Toronto had been forced to wait a decade \[from 80th\], it would be a better looking city. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/somehow-i-think-that-if-toronto-had-been-forced-to-wait-a-decade-from/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [ A lot of the buildings \[in Toronto\] around Yonge and Bloor is the architectural equivalent of Kipper Ties and 8" collar points. It's ghastly… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/a-lot-of-the-buildings-in-toronto-around-yonge-and-bloor-is-the/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [When I come to a new city is I combine: I say, well, it's like Barcelona and Edinburgh, though I can't imagine what that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/when-i-come-to-a-new-city-is-i-combine-i-say-well-it-s-like-barcelona/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [I saw Berry in concert a couple of times in the late '70s - and like almost every North American male of a certain…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elvis-mitchell/i-saw-berry-in-concert-a-couple-of-times-in-the-late-70s-and-like/) [Elvis Mitchell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elvis-mitchell/) > [And that format was - we'd been using that format, I guess, since the late '70s, and it was starting to get very predictable.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phil-lesh/and-that-format-was-we-d-been-using-that-format-i-guess-since-the/) [Phil Lesh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/phil-lesh/) > [I started in the late 70s, beginning of the 80s, and I think I started to sing and make music as a therapy for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mari-boine/i-started-in-the-late-70s-beginning-of-the-80s-and-i-think-i-started/) Mari Boine > [I was born in '71, so I remember bits of glam rock on 'Top of the Pops' toward the late '70s, but I had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ewan-mcgregor/i-was-born-in-71-so-i-remember-bits-of-glam-rock-on-top-of-the-pops/) [Ewan McGregor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ewan-mcgregor/) > [Laurie Simmons began showing her photographs in New York in the late '70s: black-and-white and then candy-colored scenarios with plastic dolls in 1950s-style domestic…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sheila-heti/laurie-simmons-began-showing-her-photographs-in-new-york-in-the-late/) [Sheila Heti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sheila-heti/) ## More by William Gibson > [“We have no idea, now, of who or what the inhabitants of our future might be. In that sense, we have no future. Not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/we-have-no-idea-now-of-who-or-what-the-inhabitants-of-our-future/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [For me, the melancholy of the late XXth Century is walking late at night by the Mont Blanc pen store and seeing these things…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/for-me-the-melancholy-of-the-late-xxth-century-is-walking-late-at/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [“No," said Blackwell, "she won't, because that would be a violation of the very personal terms I will have established in our conversation. 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The story actually generates in the course of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/i-don-t-generate-a-storyline-and-then-fill-it-out-in-the-course-of/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [“What happened to your arm?" she asked me one night in the Gentleman Loser, the three of us drinking at a small table in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/what-happened-to-your-arm-she-asked-me-one-night-in-the-gentleman/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [“In Heathrow a vast chunk of memory detached itself from a blank bowl of airport sky and fell on him. He vomited into a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/in-heathrow-a-vast-chunk-of-memory-detached-itself-from-a-blank-bowl/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [And, for an instant, she stared directly into those soft blue eyes and knew, with an instinctive mammalian certainty, that the exceedingly rich were…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/and-for-an-instant-she-stared-directly-into-those-soft-blue-eyes-and/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [ \[When\] Johnny Mnemonic was coming out and I realized that all the kids that worked in 7-11 knew more - or thought they knew… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/when-johnny-mnemonic-was-coming-out-and-i-realized-that-all-the-kids/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [“Andrea maintained that men like Alain lied so constantly, so passionately, that some basic distinction had been lost. They were artists in their own…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/andrea-maintained-that-men-like-alain-lied-so-constantly-so/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [“Because he had a good agent, he had a good contract. Because he had a good contract, he was in Singapore an hour after…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/because-he-had-a-good-agent-he-had-a-good-contract-because-he-had-a/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) [Explore all 430 William Gibson quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) ## More 80s quotes > [In the '80s, the way radio was programmed, if you didn't have a hit record you weren't going to be able to make any…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/huey-lewis/in-the-80s-the-way-radio-was-programmed-if-you-didn-t-have-a-hit/) [Huey Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/huey-lewis/) > [As an actor I kind of do. 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Everything was relatively dilapidated, and… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kiki-smith/it-was-a-very-economically-depressed-time-the-80s-and-because-of-that/) [Kiki Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kiki-smith/) > [If for no other reason than it's just fun to watch people age, and it's fun to watch what happened to '80s hairdos and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-borstein/if-for-no-other-reason-than-it-s-just-fun-to-watch-people-age-and-it/) [Alex Borstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-borstein/) > [I don't dislike rappers or hip-hop or people who like it. I went to the Def Jam tour in Manchester in the '80s when…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noel-gallagher/i-don-t-dislike-rappers-or-hip-hop-or-people-who-like-it-i-went-to/) [Noel Gallagher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noel-gallagher/) > [Since I was gay and loved disco music, it was kinda pre-programmed that my first experiences with house music and acid - which I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/justus-kohncke/since-i-was-gay-and-loved-disco-music-it-was-kinda-pre-programmed/) Justus Kohncke > [We are upsetting the atmosphere upon which all life depends. In the late 80s when I began to take climate change seriously, we referred…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-suzuki/we-are-upsetting-the-atmosphere-upon-which-all-life-depends-in-the/) [David Suzuki](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-suzuki/) > [When I was coming up in the '80s television, if you were on television that meant either you were a young actor just coming…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-bob-thornton/when-i-was-coming-up-in-the-80s-television-if-you-were-on-television/) [Billy Bob Thornton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-bob-thornton/) > [My fashion was not the best in the '80s. I looked crazy as hell. I used to wear my pants tucked into my socks…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deon-cole/my-fashion-was-not-the-best-in-the-80s-i-looked-crazy-as-hell-i-used/) [Deon Cole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deon-cole/) > [Bin Laden was, though, a product of a monumental miscalculation by western security agencies. 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