Jane Jacobs - Big Quotes

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My mother used to say when we were children, 'When a boy gets a stick in his hand, his brains run out the other end of it.' Power is a stick in the hand, and I have never heard of anybody who wielded a very big stick of power whose brains did not run out the other end. As a nation, our brains are running out the other end of our power right now.

Jane Jacobs
In small settlements everyone knows your affairs. In the big city, everyone does not — only those you choose to tell will know about you. This is one of the attributes of cities that is precious to most city people.

Jane Jacobs
Architecture and site planning have changed since I wrote my first book. But it's because what they were doing so obviously didn't work. And yet, you still find the same kind of stupid mega-projects being pushed, and we still have politicians who aren't interested unless it's something big and ostentatious.

Jane Jacobs
I think what's happened to Los Angeles is much more promising than if the city had held onto the big defense contracts and aerospace jobs. That might have been called stability, but it would have been foretelling a great abyss for the future.

Jane Jacobs
Being human is itself difficult, and therefore all kinds of settlements (except dream cities) have problems. Big cities have difficulties in abundance, because they have people in abundance.

Jane Jacobs
It is immoral for powerless people to accept this powerlessness. They may not succeed in getting power but they can fight for it, and if enough fight for it, it makes it very difficult for the people with the big sticks.

Jane Jacobs