it takes all sorts
Also found in: Acronyms.
it takes all sorts
The world is made up of many different kinds of people, and our differences should be accepted or tolerated. It wouldn't be my idea of fun to go jump out of an airplane, but it takes all sorts, I suppose. I don't understand a lot of the decisions Michael makes, but it takes all sorts, right? We might not all share the same beliefs or cultural backgrounds, but that shouldn't stop us from working together. It takes all sorts, after all.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2026 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
it takes all sorts
Many different kinds of people make up the world. For example, I would never go swimming in April, but it takes all sorts, or Gordon insists on wearing sunglasses indoors and out-I guess it takes all sorts. This expression, originating in the 1600s as It takes all sorts to make a world, is often used in remarking one's own difference from others or tolerating someone else's peculiarity. Also see no accounting for tastes.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
it takes all sorts
People say it takes all sorts when someone seems strange to them, to say that it is normal for there to be many different types of people with different ideas and behaviour in the world. I'll never understand why people enjoy cricket, but I guess it takes all sorts. Note: People sometimes use the longer expression It takes all sorts to make a world.. Not everyone will behave in the way you expect them to. After all, it takes all sorts to make a world.
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2012
it takes all sorts
Humankind is made up of many kinds of individuals, markedly different from one another. The Book of Common Prayer (1548) includes a Prayer for All Conditions of Men, which prays to God “for all sorts and conditions of men; that thou wouldest be pleased to make thy ways known unto them.” This may have been the source of the next version, It takes all sorts to make a world, which became current in the seventeenth century. Indeed, Samuel Johnson’s biographer, James Boswell, quotes philosopher John Locke as using this phrase. George Bernard Shaw was particularly fond of it. In the late nineteenth century it was shortened to it takes all sorts and by now is a cliché.
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer