William H. Whyte Quotes

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

If you want to seed a place with activity, the first thing to do is to put out food.

Nonconformity is an empty goal, and rebellion against prevailing opinion merely because it is prevailing should no more be praised than acquiescence to it. Indeed, it is often a mask for cowardice, and few are more pathetic than those who flaunt outer differences to expiate their inner surrender.

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.

It is difficult to design a space that will not attract people. What is remarkable is how often this has been accomplished.

What attracts people most, it would appear, is other people.

People tend to sit where there are places to sit

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.

Trees are contagious; as soon as one neighborhood or street is planted, citizen pressure builds up for action from the next street.

The human backside is a dimension architects seem to have forgotten.

The street is the river of life of the city, the place where we come together, the pathway to the center.

People do not always argue because they misunderstand one another, they argue because they hold different goals.

It’s not right to put water before people and then keep them away from it.