far from the madding crowd

¹ Cultural  

1. To be “far from the madding crowd” is to be removed, either literally or figuratively, from the frenzied actions of any large crowd or from the bustle of civilization. (See also under “Literature in English.”)

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far from the madding crowd ² Cultural  

1. A phrase adapted from the “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard,” by Thomas Gray: madding means “frenzied.” The lines containing the phrase speak of the people buried in the churchyard: “Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife / Their sober wishes never learned to stray.”

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In the late nineteenth century, the English author Thomas Hardy named one of his novels Far from the Madding Crowd.

Example Sentences

That’s the kind of iron will you can develop after a couple of decades living by yourself, far from the madding crowd.

From Washington Post • Mar. 24, 2020

He grew up in Northern California, far from the madding crowd of Hollywood, learned his golf from an Irish nanny, and still possesses what might be called an agricultural swing.

From Golf Digest • Oct. 25, 2019

Although she bids well, she has not built the sort of organization key to winning a caucus state and has shied away from places like Storm Lake far from the madding crowd.

From The Guardian • Jul. 29, 2019

A more sedate experience in the great north woods not far from the madding crowd would be Twin Farms in Vermont.

From Washington Times • Dec. 31, 2015

So far from the madding crowd, so secret and so storm-beaten, it gave evil-doers a sense of security.

From Nooks and Corners of Cornwall by Scott, C. A. Dawson