I was so grateful to be independent of the academic establishment. I thought, how awful it would be to have my future hinge on such people and such decisions. (Jane Jacobs (b. 1916), U.S. urban analyst. As quoted in the New York Times, p. 18 (May 31, 1993). The author of several books, including the classic Death and Life of Great American Cities, Jacobs was describing an interaction with urban planners from Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She never attended college.)
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2

Artists, whatever their medium, make selections from the abounding materials of life, and organize these selections into works that are under the control of the artist.... In relation to the inclusiveness and literally endless intricacy of life, art is arbitrary, symbolic and abstracted. That is its value and the source of its own kind of order and coherence. (Jane Jacobs (b. 1916), U.S. urban analyst. The Death and Life of Great American Cities, ch. 19 (1961). Jacobs lived in the lively, diverse Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan (New York City).)
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3

... city areas with flourishing diversity sprout strange and unpredictable uses and peculiar scenes. But this is not a drawback of diversity. This is the point ... of it. (Jane Jacobs (b. 1916), U.S. urban analyst. The Death and Life of Great American Cities, ch. 10 (1961). Jacobs lived in the lively, diverse Greenwich Village neighborhood in Manhattan (New York City).)
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4

There is a quality even meaner than outright ugliness or disorder, and this meaner quality is the dishonest mask of pretended order, achieved by ignoring or suppressing the real order that is struggling to exist and to be served. (Jane Jacobs (b. 1916), U.S. author. The Death and Life of Great American Cities, introduction (1961).)

5

Sentimentality about nature denatures everything it touches. (Jane Jacobs (b. 1916), U.S. urban analyst. The Death and Life of Great American Cities, ch. 22 (1961).)
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6

... a family I know ... bought an acre in the country on which to build a house. For many years, while they lacked the money to build, they visited the site regularly and picnicked on a knoll, the site's most attractive feature. They liked so much to visualize themselves as always there, that when they finally built they put the house on the knoll. But then the knoll was gone. Somehow they had not realized they would destroy it and lose it by supplanting it with themselves. (Jane Jacobs (b. 1916), U.S. urban analyst. The Death and Life of Great American Cities, ch. 13 (1961).)
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7

The point of cities is multiplicity of choice. (Jane Jacobs (b. 1916), U.S. urban analyst. The Death and Life of Great American Cities, ch. 18 (1961). Jacobs lived in the lively, diverse Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan (New York City).)

8

What if we fail to stop the erosion of cities by automobiles?... In that case America will hardly need to ponder a mystery that has troubled men for millennia: What is the purpose of life? For us, the answer will be clear, established and for all practical purposes indisputable: The purpose of life is to produce and consume automobiles. (Jane Jacobs (b. 1916), U.S. urban analyst. The Death and Life of Great American Cities, ch. 18 (1961). Jacobs lived in the lively, diverse Greenwich Village section of Manhattan (New York City).)
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9

Cities need old buildings so badly it is probably impossible for vigorous streets and districts to grow without them.... for really new ideas of any kind—no matter how ultimately profitable or otherwise successful some of them might prove to be—there is no leeway for such chancy trial, error and experimentation in the high-overhead economy of new construction. Old ideas can sometimes use new buildings. New ideas must use old buildings. (Jane Jacobs (b. 1916), U.S. urban analyst. The Death and Life of Great American Cities, ch. 10 (1961). Jacobs lived in the lively, diverse Greenwich Village neighborhood in Manhattan (New York City).)
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10

Reformers have long observed city people loitering on busy corners, hanging around in candy stores and bars and drinking soda pop on stoops, and have passed a judgment, the gist of which is: "This is deplorable! If these people had decent homes and a more private or bosky outdoor place, they wouldn't be on the street!" That judgment represents a profound misunderstanding of cities. It makes no more sense than to drop in at a testimonial banquet in a hotel and conclude that if these people had wives who could cook, they would give their parties at home. (Jane Jacobs (b. 1916), U.S. urban analyst. The Death and Life of Great American Cities, ch. 3 (1961). Jacobs lived in the lively, diverse Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan (New York City).)
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