Urban Sayings and Quotes

Below you will find our collection of inspirational, wise, and humorous old urban quotes, urban sayings, and urban proverbs, collected over the years from a variety of sources.

The world grows ever complex. More urban. Less peaceful. Fennel Hudson
Garden cities, really very nice towns if you were docile and had no plans of your own. Jane Jacobs
There is no logic that can be superimposed on the city; people make it, and it is to them, not buildings, that we must fit our plans. Jane Jacobs
Town and country must be married, and out of this joyous union will spring a new hope, a new life, a new civilisation. Ebenezer Howard
The urban man is an uprooted tree, he can put out leaves, flowers and grow fruit but what a nostalgia his leaf, flower, and fruit will always have for mother earth! Juan Ramon Jimenez
An urban novelist never minds a little decay. Jane Smiley
Survival in more primitive ages required constant alertness, but survival in today's mechanized world almost demands that we turn off our senses. In urban life especially, there is too much to see, hear and smell. Carole Katchen
Cities, like dreams, are made of desires and fears. Italo Calvino
The city, the city! Devote yourself to her in her incomparable light. Cicero
There is much to love and to admire in the great city. It is the home of the highest achievements of man in art, literature, and science; the source from which the forces of freedom and emancipation have sprung. William Robson
There is no greater sight in all humanity than men's social labor throbbing in the life of a great metropolis, say New York or London or any of the sprawling metropolis of the West or even their counterparts throughout the world. Theodore Van Laue
What is a city but the people? It's an economical, yet profound, definition, so far as it goes; but like most verbal equations, it can break down. Shakespeare
A city, in its most real sense, is its buildings. Whatever the life, spirit, activity, or achievements of the city may be, they are expressed in the mass of asphalt, brick, stone, marble, steel, and glass that has accumulated during the city's existence. Ada Louise Huxtable
The urban problem is the nation's problem. The urban problem is the concentration of all the pressure and problems and unmet needs of our society. We cannot abandon the cities without destroying the nation. Benito Mussolini
A city is more than a place in space, it is a drama in time. Patrick Geddes
Everyone knows what a city is except the experts. For them, the city is many things among which none is clearly dominant. Horace Miner
The city, with language...remains man's greatest work of art, a place where 'time becomes visible,' and 'mind takes form.' Lewis Mumford
Cities are bibles of stone. Victor Hugo
A vast collection of memories and expressions of emotion...it represents the widest and fullest expression of all the types of meaning which man has achieved. The city is what we mean by civilization. Mason Gross
Cities affect every person's life, yet across the traditional divides of class, age, gender, and political affiliation, armies of people are united in their dislike of the transformations that cities have undergone in recent times Ian Bentley
Villagers rush to the city, / He gets scopes of variety. / They can avail best of treatment. / Maximums are fond of treatment. / Someone sells their vegetables in a metro city. / Thus metro city gets wide publicity. Saroj Khan
The glow of the city / was calming sight / For all of the love / that's there in the night / When all for the looking / was there to be / The soul of the city / that's there to see. Trever McLeod
In the city, the line between nightmare and reality was fluid, just as the context of the words killer and death had shifted over time. Perhaps Mord was responsible. Perhaps we all were. Jeff Vandermeer
The first problem of living is to minimize friction with the crowds that surround you on all sides. Isaac Asimov
Living in a city shouldn't make you cynical and living in a village shouldn't make you vulnerable. Amit Kalantri
A city is a right place to build a business but not the right place to build a home. Amit Kalantri
A city has no sense, no sentiment, no soul. Amit Kalantri
I keep forgetting that if you live in a big city only mad people talk to themselves. Jeanette Winterson
Urban callused feet / Walking barefoot on the beach / Worn smooth by the sand. Richard L. Ratliff
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