Ownership in Manhattan

"I don't want to be here, Paul. I want to be in Manhattan, where you don't own land: you own cubic feet fifty stories above the ground, like a normal person."
Jamie Buchman (Helen Hunt), Mad About You

Seclusion in New York

"One man talked to me who knew Garbo, who lived then in New York in seclusion; I don't blame her – anyway, everyone lives in seclusion in New York."
Nico, Nico: The Life and Lies of an Icon

Small Talk With Strangers

"I'm from New York. I don’t need to engage in cordial small talk with strangers. In New York, we greet newcomers by giving them incorrect directions to Times Square and criticizing the way they spread their cream cheese."
Susanna Wolff, The New Yorker