Despite the spotlight often placed on major cities, the United States — like just about every country around the world — is a nation made largely of small towns. These towns are often depicted as either wholesome and welcoming or dull and full of busybodies. Both perspectives can certainly be true — and each has its advantages and disadvantages.
With their tight-knit communities and slower pace of life, small towns offer a distinct sense of belonging, familiarity, and support. Their proximity to nature can also be advantageous, potentially helping to foster an appreciation for the outdoors and the environment.
Of course, small towns can have their downsides, too. There may be fewer opportunities for professional development or a lack of wide-ranging cultural experiences and diverse perspectives. The people who call small towns home — not unlike those who call cities home — may wrestle with the pros and cons. But ultimately, as demonstrated in these quotes, many find inspiration in the more leisurely small-town way of life.
One of the pleasant things about small town life is that everyone, whether rich or poor, liked or disliked, has some kind of a role and place in the community.
The art of living in a small town is one of the most difficult to acquire.
For any American who had the great and priceless privilege of being raised in a small town, there remain always with him nostalgic memories of those days. And the older he grows the more he senses what he owed to the simple honesty, the neighborliness, the integrity that he saw all around him, in those days.
We tend to believe life is different in small towns, and frankly, it is different. The pace of life is slower, there’s little traffic, people tend to know their neighbors; each town has its distinct idiosyncrasies and charms.
In small towns people scent the wind with noses of uncommon keenness.
It takes a small town to keep you humble.
Small towns make up for their lack of people by having everyone be more interesting.
There’s no job too big to benefit from a small town person’s perspective, I discovered, just as there’s no town too small for thinking big.
Small towns are best for spending Christmas, I think. They catch the mood quicker and change and come alive under its spell.
People in small towns, much more than in cities, share a destiny.
When small towns find they cannot harm the strangest of their members, when eccentrics show resilience, they are eventually embraced and even cherished.
The bad thing about living in a small town was that everything became a personal issue. The good thing about living in a small town was that everything became a personal issue. During times of trouble, the support system was massive.
Human nature cannot be studied in cities except at a disadvantage — a village is the place.
Featured Image Credit: Kanate/ Shutterstock
Nicole Villeneuve
Nicole is a writer, thrift store lover, and group-chat meme spammer based in Ontario, Canada.
