"Halloween in Manhattan is really no different from any other day. It merely gives license to indulge in one's fantasies without too much disapproval."
Arthur Shafer, From a Burning House
"This was always the immigrant city. This is where he big lady stands by the golden door. This is the once-upon-a-time place, the start of countless stories. New York is still somewhere you have to achieve."
A.A. Gill, To America with Love
"I'll take Manhattan in a garbage bag
with Latin written on it that says
'it's hard to give a shit these days'
Manhattan's sinking like a rock
into the filthy Hudson what a shock
they wrote a book about it
they said it was like ancient Rome."
Lou Reed, Romeo Had Juliette
"I believe in New Yorkers. Whether they've ever questioned the dream in which they live, I wouldn't know, because I won't ever dare ask that question."
Dylan Thomas, A Casebook on Dylan Thomas
"That's the problem with being born in New York, the old newsman observed a little sadly. You've got no New York to run away to."
Amor Towles, Rules of Civility
"New York lesson 1 – never look lost. Lesson 2 – forget hallowed silences. It’s the right of all Americans to talk at the tops of their voices."
Alison Fell, The Element -Inth in Greek
"The really nice New Yorkers are the most attractive people in America. And one can live so well in New York."
David Graham Phillips, The Fashionable Adventures of Joshua Craig
"I learned something about New York that day — if you are feeling broken and splintered, the city will rise up like a dragon jolted from sleep and trample you."
Patti Davis, A House of Secrets
"One of the great features of New York is, you can do anything here. This is the Land of Opportunity, capital L, capital O. Here you can get paid to do just about anything you can think of."
Michael Cunningham, A Home at the End of the World
"Someone is a New Yorker if they know that even with all the stank, the crowds, the noise, the high cost of living, and the hassle, that it's worth the ... Shit — What the hell am I doing here?"
Rachel Dratch, New York Magazine
"In some ways, New York affects me like Venice. It's in danger of dying, so there's something tender about it."
Paul Mazursky, quoted in Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bronx is Burning
"My New York City talks to me all the time, whispers in my ear, keeps me grounded, thrills me, makes the improbable seem possible, is my constant lover."
Annette Meyers, I'll Take Manhattan
"New York is just too big, too complex to be covered by any one writer. At best he can only offer his little tribute to something he loves, but which is beyond him."
Robert Moses, Public Works: A Dangerous Trade
"L.A. is like Oz and New York is like Wonderland. In L.A., little men behind curtains fool you with big pictures and in New York, you either feel really big or really small."
Yongsoo Park, Boy Genius
"New York City is very holy. It embodies all that America worships. It represents a Mecca for Americans, for the American mores, for those who are American at heart."
Jack Wolf, Reflection on the Golden River
"New York offered an irresistible cocktail of fear and grandeur. It lured as much by its dangers and squalor as by its riches."
L.B. Deyo, Invisible Frontier
"New York is one huge impending deadline and a barrage of new assignments, and if there is anyplace that will make you feel guilty for not getting around to something, it's New York."
Cindy Chupack, The Between Boyfriends Book
"Arriving by plane I've always had the same impression of entering into the future through a window. When I'm asked what cities I prefer, I put New York at a level with Venice, Ghent, Florence, Jerusalem."
François Mitterrand, François Mitterrand: A Very French President
"Whoever is born in New York is ill-equipped to deal with any other city: all other cities seem, at best, a mistake, and, at worst, a fraud."
James Baldwin, Just Above My Head
"Everybody in New York seems to come from somewhere else. It gives the city its energy and a living library of stories."
Fiona Buckland, Impossible Dance
"New York was thrilling. Sure, people on the sidewalk were sort of pushy, and they rarely made eye contact, but that was because they were ambitious and driven. The city's energy was palpable. Just to be outside, to walk down Broadway, was like drinking a shot of expresso."
Sophie Flack, Bunheads
"Already I was possessed of the New York disease: a feverish desire to appear knowing, no matter how deep one's ignorance."
Mary Cantwell, Manhattan Memoir
"Trying to fit life into spaces too small for it takes a toll on civilization. Blood pressure among New Yorkers is probably always high. One goes through life most days with a temperature just one degree below the boiling point."
Russell Baker, So This is Depravity