Friday, May 31, 2013

The Best Thing

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Grand Central Station

"Sometimes, the best thing about New York is being able to leave."
Andrew Louie, The New York Writer's Guide

Thursday, May 30, 2013

Sweet Nothing

Columbus Circle subway station

"New Yorkers love and trust one another. In what other city, can you stand three inches away from someone's ear lobe, and not whisper a sweet nothing?"
Sabrina Lamb, A Kettle of Vultures

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Competing for Space

West 29th St.

"Everything about New York leaves me feeling like I'm competing for space, and just barely hanging on."
Lauren Graham, Someday, Someday, Maybe

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Making a Buck

Central Park

"No people on God's green Earth are more devoted to making a buck than New Yorkers."
Sharon Krum, The Thing about Jane Spring

Monday, May 27, 2013

Self-Possession

Bethesda Fountain

"New York offers self-possession as powerful as a Don Mattingly grand slam, a Rocky Marciano haymaker or a Liza Minnelli encore – plus, the natives greet you with a kiss, a most agreeable custom."
Clay Cole, Sh-Boom!

Sunday, May 26, 2013

Don't Pee

Jersey St.

"I like New York. This is the only city where you actually have to say things like, 'Hey, that's mine. Don't pee on that.'"
Louis C.K., Comedy Central

Saturday, May 25, 2013

Bringing Me Down

West 40th

"New York, I Love You
But you're bringing me down
Like a rat in a cage
Pulling minimum wage
New York, I Love You
But you're bringing me down."
LCD Soundsystem, New York, I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down

Friday, May 24, 2013

Get Somewhere

34th St.

"Everybody in New York City wants to get somewhere. At Christmas everybody wants to get to Macy's, and in the summer everybody wants to get to the beach. At five o'clock everybody wants to get through the tunnels. On Saturday night everybody wants to get to the newsstands for Sunday's paper. Everybody uptown wants to get to Zabar's and everybody downtown wants to get to Balducci's. Everybody all the time wants to get into the next elevator, the next subway, and the next-door neighbor's pants."
Donald Westlake, Dancing Aztecs

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Alive

Central Park

"New York is alive, and whether your pockets are being picked or stroked, the magic of the city shoots through you like heroin on a hot fudge sundae."
Mary Carter, She'll Take It

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Sense of Belonging

Washington Square Park

"New York gave me a sense of belonging that is not constricted by nationalism."
Nicholasa Mohr, Puerto Rican Voices in English

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

The Dawning of the Universe

Statue of Liberty and East River

"It is a world completely rotten with wealth, power, senility, indifference, puritanism and mental hygiene, poverty and waste, technological futility and aimless violence, and yet I cannot help but feel it has about it something of the dawning of the universe. Perhaps because the entire world continues to dream of New York, even as New York dominates and exploits it."
Jean Baudrillard, America

Monday, May 20, 2013

The Fall of Civilization

Eighth Avenue

"New York... When civilization falls apart, remember, we were way ahead of you."
David Letterman, quoted in That’s Really Funny

Sunday, May 19, 2013

Sophisticated Appearance

53rd and Lexington

"New York is casual, intellectual, subtle, effective and devastatingly witty. But her sophisticated appearance is the thinnest of veneers. Beneath it there is power, virility, determination and a sense of destiny."
Raymond Loewy, The Epic of New York City

Saturday, May 18, 2013

Refuge

St. Paul's Chapel

"New York is not a city, it is Man seeking refuge from the Behemoth that has devoured him. It is a heaped-up mass of masonry and men."
Albion Ross, Journey of an American

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Vertical

New York by Gehry

"New York is a vertical town. The emphasis is on things that rise."
Thomas Beller, New York Times

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Survival of the Strongest

East Houston

"Manhattan was a Darwinian environment: only the strongest survived. The weak, the nice, the naïve, the ones who smiled at passersby on the sidewalk, they all got weeded out."
Cristina Alger, The Darlings

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

At Home

West 42nd

"New York is the only place I've ever truly felt at home. (Probably because everyone in New York is insane.)"
Lee Harrington, Rex and the City

Monday, May 13, 2013

Rootless

Port Authority

"New York, a city with no roots, is the only place where I feel I may have my roots, and two months of traveling are sufficient, and New York is the only place where I can pretend to reside."
Italo Calvino, quoted in Kazaaam! Splat! Ploof!

Sunday, May 12, 2013

Quick Hit of Kindnesses

West 138th

"In a slower paced community, you may take additional time to stop, say hello and exchange a few words. In New York, it is the fast hello, the quick smile, the 'quick hit of kindnesses'. When you understand this, it opens you to see whole new possibilities. You will see a whole lot more of all that happens in that 'New York Minute.'"
Joseph Primm, Attitude in Words

Saturday, May 11, 2013

Friday, May 10, 2013

Third Birthday

Riverside Park South

Three years ago, NY Daily Quote was born. Instead of bringing you a new quote today, we're looking back at some of our favorite sayings from the past year:

10. "New York has always struck me as a city of survivors, of people who have succeeded largely because they have somehow managed not to be knocked by the wayside."
Stephen Birmingham, Cincinnati Magazine

9. "Living in California adds ten years to a man's life. And those extra ten years I'd like to spend in New York."
Harry Ruby, quoted in The Traveling Curmudgeon

8. "There's nothing like New York City to make you feel small—or a part of something enormous and splendid, whichever you prefer."
Vicki Myron, Dewey's Nine Lives

7. "A real New Yorker is someone who came from somewhere else where they felt like an outsider and then chose to move to New York to be around other misfits."
Susan Seifelman, New York Magazine

6. "Living in New York is a character-builder; you must know who you are, what you're doing, where you're going, and how to get there."
George Carlin, Brain Droppings

5. "I got hooked on New York before I even knew it was a drug."
Jane Borden, I Totally Meant to Do That

4. "If you are greedy for life, that's what New York is all about. If you're trying to get as much as you can every day, this city is the place to be."
Pam Nelson, My City, My New York

3. "New York, like family, will always take you back."
Cynthia Ceilan quoted in 1001 Greatest Things Ever Said About New York

2. "Welcome to New York City, a place where you fit in, no matter who you are."
Andrew Stone, Hedonist's Guide to New York

1. "New York is, of course, a lot more than a city. New York is a philosophy of life."
Christa Ludwig, In My Own Voice

Tell us, what's your favorite?

We don't say this enough, but thanks for your visits, your retweets, your likes and even for getting mad at us when we post the occasional "I hate NY" quote. This site is for you and we hope you'll continue to enjoy it for a long time.




Thursday, May 9, 2013

Alien City

Little Italy

"There is a feeling in the country that New York is an alien city, full of international bankers and long-haired revolutionaries. A city of gaiety and sin and Oriental intrigue, fascinating to visit but not really part of America."
Paul Crowell and A.H. Raskin, Our Fair City

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Nostalgia of the Orient and the Occident

Davis St.

"The poetry of New York is an organ, Gothic neurosis, nostalgia of the Orient and the Occident, parchment lampshade in the form of a musical partition, smoked facade, artificial vampire, artificial armchair."
Salvador Dalí, The Secret Life of Salvador Dalí

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Equalizer

Hamilton Place

"New York is one of those equalizer places, like everybody is the same, and you can't even think that you're special, you know. Because they'll say, 'Like who the fuck you think you are man? Shit, get out my way. I'll cut your ass.'"
Walter Mosley, Conversations with Walter Mosley 

Monday, May 6, 2013

Decision Making

Madison Avenue

"Most of the decisions that control people's lives are made in New York City. Not in Washington, not on Pennsylvania Avenue. In New York City! Madison Avenue and Wall Street. People can't handle that. Pisses 'em off. Fuck 'em!"
George Carlin, Brain Droppings

Sunday, May 5, 2013

Unspeakably Fascinating

East River

"You speak of New York as an unspeakable place. It is truly that. But it is fascinating. It is like some giant machine, soulless, an without a trace of heart. And still I doubt whether there is anything more truly wonderful than New York in the world just at present."
Alfred Stieglitz, My Dear Stieglitz: Letters of Marsden Hartley and Alfred Stieglitz, 1912-1915

Saturday, May 4, 2013

Invincible

One World Trade Center

"New York is where I always wanted to be. I don't think that will change. The city is invincible."
Nathaniel Rich, Odds Against Tomorrow

Thursday, May 2, 2013

Winners and Losers

Citi Field

"New Yorkers love a winner, and can be oddly affectionate to losers—but they cannot stand mediocrity."
Cait N. Murphy, Crazy '08

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

American Rage

Occupy Wall Street posters in the West Village

"The juice of New York was something he could understand. American rage, freedom from European classicism and the deathly Common Market."
Tama Janowitz, Slaves of New York