Urban Quotes

• One of the tragedies of the struggle against racism is that up to now there has been no national organization which could speak to the growing militancy of young black people in the urban ghetto.

  Stokely Carmichael

  Struggle, Ghetto, Organization

  Stokely Carmichael (1966). “What we want”

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• The car has become the carapace, the protective and aggressive shell, of urban and suburban man.

  Marshall McLuhan

  Men, Car, Shells

  Understanding Media (1964) p. 224

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• And New York is the most beautiful city in the world? It is not far from it. No urban night is like the night there... Squares after squares of flame, set up and cut into the aether. Here is our poetry, for we have pulled down the stars to our will.

  Ezra Pound

  Beautiful, New York, Stars

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• Gang violence in America is not a sudden problem. It has been a part of urban life for years, offering an aggressive definition and identity to those seeking a place to belong in the chaos of large metropolitan areas.

  Dave Reichert

  Offering, Years, America

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• The Vienna Franks are a good example of urban white acid folk revivalism crossed with ska.

  Douglas Coupland

  White, Example, Vienna

  Douglas Coupland (2015). “Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture”, p.120, Hachette UK

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• This is a pivotal time for urban regeneration. We must take a long term view.

  Richard Rogers

  Views, Long, Term

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• I have an urban background, but I need melody, I need a song, so I try to mix and match and keep it fluid.

  Negash Ali

  Song, Trying, Needs

  Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

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• The photographer is an armed version of the solitary walker reconnoitering, stalking, cruising the urban inferno, the voyeuristic stroller who discovers the city as a landscape of voluptuous extremes. Adept of the joys of watching, connoisseur of empathy, the flâneur finds the world 'picturesque.

  Susan Sontag

  Cities, Empathy, Joy

  Susan Sontag (2011). “On Photography”, p.50, Macmillan

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• A peasant becomes fond of his pig and is glad to salt away its pork. What is significant, and is so difficult for the urban stranger to understand, is that the two statements are connected by an and not by a but.

  John Berger

  Animal, Pigs, Two

  John Berger (2011). “About Looking”, p.7, Vintage

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• Not many sounds in life, and I include all urban and all rural sounds, exceed in interest a knock at the door.

  Charles Lamb

  Doors, Sound, Rural Life

  'Essays of Elia' (1823) 'Valentine's Day'

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• A lot of times black actors get stuck in a box. They're up against a lot of limitations for the kind of films that they get approached about. It's easy to get stuck in a box and just be approached about nothing but urban films.

  Tyrese Gibson

  Black, Actors, Kind

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• The industrial revolution has tended to produce everywhere great urban masses that seem to be increasingly careless of ethical standards.

  Irving Babbitt

  Ethical Standards, Revolution, Produce

  Irving Babbitt (2005). “On Literature, Cultures, and Religion”, p.139, Transaction Publishers

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• The ability to look at certain patterns with regards to urban fashion, with regards to swagger, with regards to cultural hegemony, with regards to the ways in which young people look at resistance culture as a pattern that should be mimicked and admired.

  Kehinde Wiley

  Fashion, People, Culture

  Source: www.aaa.si.edu

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• Each of us-adult or child-must earn nature's gift by knowing nature directly, however difficult it may be to glean that knowledge in an urban environment.

  Richard Louv

  Nature, Children, Knowing

  Richard Louv (2013). “Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder”, p.49, Atlantic Books Ltd

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• Everyone's looking to the urban scene for inspiration now.

  Robin Gibb

  Inspiration, Scene

  "Biography / Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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• Porridge and the urban lifestyle don't mix well.

  Fergus Henderson

  Lifestyle, Porridge, Wells

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• Urbanization is not about simply increasing the number of urban residents or expanding the area of cities. More importantly, it's about a complete change from rural to urban style in terms of industry structure, employment, living environment and social security.

  Li Keqiang

  Urbanization, Cities, Numbers

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• Yes,” Howie said solemnly. “I can teach you how to be more ‘street’”. “For God’s sake…” “Or is it ‘urban’? I can’t remember. Anyway, I can teach you, grasshopper. Or hip-hopper.

  Barry Lyga

  Sake, Hips, Remember

  Barry Lyga (2014). “Game”, p.145, Random House

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• What I did was go into the studio and make music that I love. Make music that when you hear it, it feels good. Whether it was urban inspired, dance inspired, HipHop inspired or it just feels good period.

  Kelly Rowland

  Feel Good, Inspired, Periods

  Source: www.parlemag.com

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• 33% of urban traffic is actively seeking a parking space.

  Donald Shoup

  Space, Environmental, Traffic

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• At the risk of quoting Mephistopheles I repeat: Welcome to hell. A hell erected and maintained by human-governments, and blessed by black robed judges. A hell that allows you to see your loved ones, but not to touch them. A hell situated in America's boondocks, hundreds of miles away from most families. A white, rural hell, where most of the captives are black and urban. It is an American way of death.

  Mumia Abu-Jamal

  Blessed, Government, White

  FaceBook post by Mumia Abu Jamal from Sep 10, 2011

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• I think a current understanding about urban behavior tells us that it's important that people get out and be able to get away from the concrete jungles and the dense environment where they live for their own mental well-being. If they don't do this, the costs in human loss and human sickness will be far greater than what we would be expending for these kinds of releases and open spaces.

  Barry Goldwater

  Loss, Thinking, Concrete Jungle

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• In architecture it isn't enough to just have the right building that works well. It can also be beautiful. It can also be different. It can create surprise. And surprise is the main thing in a work of art. [] I like and respect Brasí­lia very much. It is a simple city, a rational one. I always defend the urban design of Brasí­lia

  Oscar Niemeyer

  Beautiful, Art, Simple

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• The city is a fact in nature, like a cave, a run of mackerel or an ant-heap. But it is also a conscious work of art, and it holds within its communal framework many simpler and more personal forms of art. Mind takes form in the city; and in turn, urban forms condition mind.

  Lewis Mumford

  Running, Art, Nature

  "The Culture of Cities". Book by Lewis Mumford. Introduction, 1938.

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• I mean, I know my heart is not clean, and your heart is not clean, and none of our urban hearts are clean. But you can be washed again.

  Mary J. Blige

  Heart, Mean, Clean

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