The grass will grow in the streets of a hundred cities.

Attributed to Herbert Hoover, this line evokes a vivid image of economic collapse: cities so impoverished and inactive that streets go untended and nature reclaims them. The phrase functions as a warning about the social consequences of financial panic—unemployment, shuttered commerce, and municipal breakdown—rather than merely a prediction about markets. In quotation culture it is often used to dramatize the stakes of policy choices, especially debates over intervention versus austerity. However, because the wording is frequently repeated without a reliable primary citation, its significance today is also a case study in how memorable metaphors can detach from verifiable origins and become rhetorical shorthand.