“We read our mail and counted up our missions In bombers named for girls, we burned The cities we had learned about in school Till our lives wore out; our bodies lay among The people we had killed and never seen. When we lasted long enough they gave us medals; When we died they said, "Our casualties were low." They said, "Here are the maps"; we burned the cities.” PeopleLongSaidEnoughBodySchoolGirlCitiesOur LivesLowsDiedLaysMissionsMapsMailBurnedThey SaidMedalCasualtiesBombers Author:Randall Jarrell
“Standing at the edge of our city, a man could feel that we had made this place of streets and dwellings in the stillness of the desert, and that we had done a brave thing... Or a man could feel that we had made this city in the desert and that it was a fake thing and that our lives were empty lives, and that we were the contemporaries of the jack rabbits.” MenFeelsMadeDoneCitiesOur LivesStreetsStandingEmptyBraveEdgesDesertFakeStillnessRabbitsDwellingEmpty Life Author:William Saroyan
“Today we are all speeding under the golden arms of the arches into our city, into our lives, into the world that is a stream of information, ceaselessly collected and projected.” WorldTodayCitiesOur LivesInformationArmsGoldenStreamsArchesSpeeding Author:Jeanette Winterson
“Venice is ever the fragile labyrinth at the edge of the sea and it reminds us how brief and perilous the journeys of our lives are; perhaps that is why we love it so. City of plagues and brief liaisons, city of lingering deaths and incendiary loves, city of chimeras, nightmares, pigeons, bells. You are the only city in the world whose dialect has a word for the shimmer of canal water reflected on the ceiling of a room.” WorldWaterRoomsCitiesOur LivesJourneySeaEdgesNightmareFragileBellsPlagueCeilingsVeniceLabyrinthPigeonsLingeringDialectCanalsCities In The WorldShimmerChimeraLiaison Author:Erica Jong
“I think you've got to accept that certain things are in process that you can't change, that you can't overwhelm. The chaos of our cities, the randomness of our lives, the unpredictability of where you're going to be in ten years from now - all of those things are weighing on us, and yet there is a certain glimmer of control. If you act a certain way, and talk a certain way, you're going to draw certain forces to you.” IfsThinkingWayYearsCertainForceProcessCitiesAcceptingOur LivesTenDrawsChaosCan't ChangeRandomnessWeighingUnpredictability Author:Frank Gehry
“Engaging the city around us and ministering to its needs reveal to us the remaining bastions of sin in our lives, the areas we refuse to surrender to God.” NeedsSinCitiesOur LivesAreasRefuseSurrenderEngagingSurrender To God Author:Matt Chandler
“An unfolding technology has increased our economic strength and added to the convenience of our lives. But that same technology-we know now-carries danger with it. From the great smoke stacks of industry and from the exhausts of motors and machines, 130 million tons of soot, carbon and grime settle over the people and shroud the Nation's cities each year. From towns, factories, and stockyards, wastes pollute our rivers and streams, endangering the waters we drink and use.” PeopleKnowsYearsUseNationsWaterCitiesMillionsTechnologyOur LivesEconomicDangerIndustryDrinkWasteRiversMachinesTownsEnvironmentalSmokeSettlingStreamsCarrieFactoriesPollutionCarbonConvenienceMotorUnfoldingShroudsGrime Author:Lyndon B. Johnson
“Transportation is an essential part of our lives, and in New York City where driving is not a viable option most of the time, public transportation and taxis are the only way to get around.” WayCitiesOur LivesNew YorkEssentialsDrivingNew York CityTransportationTaxiPublic Transportation Author:Simi Linton
“The arts have long been an integral and vibrant part of our nation's cultural heritage. In its many forms, art enables us to gain a deeper understanding of ourselves and of our society. Providing us with a unique way to learn about people of other cultures, it allows us to discover all that we have in common. At its best, art can beautify our cities, encourage economic development and social change, and profoundly affect the ways we live our lives.” PeopleWayLongArtFormCultureNationsSocialUnderstandingCommonCitiesOur LivesEconomicDevelopmentUniqueGainsDeeperOur SocietyHeritageProvidingSocial ChangeEconomic DevelopmentOther CulturesCultural HeritageDeeper UnderstandingBest Art Author:William J. Clinton
“We plan our lives in long, unbroken stretches that intersect our dreams the way highways connect the city dots on a road map. But in the end we learn that life is lived in the side roads, alleys, and detours.” WayLongEndsDreamLife IsSidesCitiesOur LivesPlansMapsOur DreamsHighwaysDotsAlleysUnbrokenDetoursRoad Maps Book:Miles to Go: The Second Journal of the Walk Series Source: Miles to Go: The Second Journal of the Walk Series
“Regular maps have few surprises: their contour lines reveal where the Andes are, and are reasonably clear. More precious, though, are the unpublished maps we make ourselves, of our city, our place, our daily world, our life; those maps of our private world we use every day; here I was happy, in that place I left my coat behind after a party, that is where I met my love; I cried there once, I was heartsore; but felt better round the corner..., things of that sort, our personal memories, that make the private tapestry of our lives.” WorldUseLeftFeltLinesMemoriesPartyCitiesBehindsClearOur LivesMetsSurpriseRoundsCornersMapsCriedCoatsTapestry Book:Love Over Scotland Source: Love Over Scotland
“[The Great Migration] had such an effect on almost every aspect of our lives - from the music that we listen to to the politics of our country to the ways the cities even look and feel.” WayFeelsLooksCountryCitiesOur LivesEffectsAspectOur CountryMigration Author:Isabel Wilkerson
“Between my husband, my son and I, we'll always have a bit of both in our lives. We need a bit of both because the cities are so different, and we have that luxury. We're really lucky” NeedsDifferentBitsCitiesOur LivesSonLuckyHusbandLuxuryMy HusbandMy Son Author:Kristin Lehman