William H. Whyte famous quotes

07-12-2025

So-called 'undesirables' are not the problem. It is the measures taken to combat them that is the problem.
-- William H. Whyte

#Taken #Problem #Combat
It is difficult to design a space that will not attract people. What is remarkable is how often this has been accomplished.
-- William H. Whyte

#Space #People #Design
The street is the river of life of the city, the place where we come together, the pathway to the center.
-- William H. Whyte

#Cities #Rivers #Together
If you want to seed a place with activity, put out food.
-- William H. Whyte

#Want
People tend to sit where there are places to sit
-- William H. Whyte

#People
Trees are contagious; as soon as one neighborhood or street is planted, citizen pressure builds up for action from the next street.
-- William H. Whyte

#Tree #Citizens #Next
People very rarely think in groups; they talk together, they exchange information, they adjudicate, they make compromises. But they do not think; they do not create.
-- William H. Whyte

#Thinking #People #Together
The human backside is a dimension architects seem to have forgotten.
-- William H. Whyte

#Dimensions #Forgotten #Architect
What attracts people most, it would appear, is other people.
-- William H. Whyte

#People
The onlooker had better wipe the sympathy off his face. What he has seen is a revolution, not the home of little cogs and drones. What he has seen is the dormitory of the next managerial class.
-- William H. Whyte

#Sympathy #Home #Class
We have been the most prodigal of people with land, and for years we wasted it with impunity. There was so much of it, and no matter how we fouled it, there was always more over the next hill, or so it seemed.
-- William H. Whyte

#Years #Land #People

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