ENGLISH
REFERENCE

it takes all kinds to make a world

idiom
Meaning

Diversity is essential: the world would be incomplete if everyone were alike; an expression of surprise at a person or people's eccentricity.


Origin

first recorded 17th c.

Calque of Spanish de todos ha de haber en el mundo (“There must be of all [types] in the world”), Miguel de Cervantes, El ingenioso caballero Don Quijote de la Mancha, Capítulo VI, 1615 (Don Quixote, Volume 2, Chapter VI); translated 1620, Shelton, as "In the world there must surely be of all sorts." and appeared in various forms thereafter.

Examples
SIMPLE

Some people are very strange, but it takes all kinds to make a world.

CONTEXTUAL

My neighbor collects old clocks and wears bright costumes, but I suppose it takes all kinds to make a world.

COMPLEX

While the eccentric behavior of the local artist often baffled the townspeople, they eventually accepted that it takes all kinds to make a world.

Anchors to
Related idioms8entries
  1. 01

    all over the world

    throughout the world, everywhere, worldwide, globally.

  2. 02

    cannot make it

    Cannot reach satisfactory or expected standards or do something competently; describes someone in a hopeless situation.

  3. 03

    come into the world

    To be born.

  4. 04

    coming into the world

    The act of being born; a birth.

  5. 05

    dead to the world

    Sound asleep.

  6. 06

    doctors make the worst patients

    It is difficult to advise people on subjects that they are experts on.

  7. 07

    edge of the world

    A very remote place.

  8. 08

    end of the world

    Any change that seems catastrophic or devastating.

© 2026 English Reference