Skip to content
quotesby

It was no affair for the watch: Satan was at large tonight and Satan seemed to be he who appeared dimly in front, heel over gate, knee over fence. Moreover, the adversary was obviously travelling near home or at least in that section of London consecrated to his coarser whims, for the street narrowed like a road in a picture and the houses bent over further and further, cooping in natural ambushes suitable for murder and its histrionic sister, sudden death.

F. Scott Fitzgerald#48

FearMoralityCityDangerUrban life

About this quote

What does it mean?
The setting suggests danger and moral decay lurking in the city streets.
In plain terms
The street feels dangerous and full of hidden threats.
What can you take from it?
Urban environments can hide deep moral corruption.

Where it applies

  • night walk
  • crime fiction
  • social critique

Putting it to work

  • be aware of surroundings
  • recognize hidden threats
  • protect yourself

Questions to consider

  • Where do you feel unsafe?
  • What hidden dangers exist near you?

Another view

Not all cities are as dangerous as this.

More from F. Scott Fitzgerald

  1. You're simply stubborn. You think you don't want to be like any one else. You always have been that way, and you always will be. But just think how it would be…

    Permalink to quote #47
  2. He read at wine, he read in bed, He read aloud, had he the breath, His every thought was with the dead, And so he read himself to death.

    Permalink to quote #49
  3. There's a right way of doing things and a wrong way. If you've made up your mind to be different from everybody else, I don't suppose I can stop you, but I rea…

    Permalink to quote #46

Related quotes

  1. There are few cities with so many good as New Orleans and also few cities where there is such a stark coexistence with the bad. It is this city, the Big Easy, …

    Michael D. BrownMichael D. Brown quote #3
  2. O early one morning I walked out like Agag, Early one morning to walk through the fire Dodging the pythons that leaked on the pavements With tinkle of glasses …

    Louis MacNeiceLouis MacNeice quote #6
  3. Restless sleep twisted dreams. Moving targets silent screams. Restless city restless street. Restless you restless me.

    Tom PettyTom Petty quote #17