Diamonds and Manure

"I've always hated New York. It's too big. It's too dirty. It's too rude. New York is like dropping some diamonds into a two-holer—yes, there are some diamonds in there, but you have to go through a sea of manure to get them."
Joe Tait, Joe Tait

What It Means to Be a New Yorker

"There's a whole sort of storyline and narrative about what it means to be a New Yorker. And New Yorkers aren't scared. New Yorkers are always unfazed. New Yorkers don’t slow down, they take 10 steps at a time."
Yoon Im Kane, Our Town

Seductive New York

"The place is so all-enveloping and seductive, it is sometimes hard to remember that you had a life before you settled here. If time flows like a river through other communities, it rushes in flash flood through the concrete canyons of Manhattan."
Larry Kirwan, Green Suede Shoes

Nobody Blinks an Eye

"On the way to hospital, my wife was in so much pain that she was on all fours in the backseat of the Uber with her head out the window… screaming, 'I do not like this.' Being very economical with her word choice. Also, in any other city in America, if someone’s yelling, 'I do not like this,' out the window of a car, it is an abduction taking place. In New York City, nobody blinks an eye. See, we weren’t on highways. We were, like, stopped at stop lights. And my wife was screaming, 'I do not like this,' and old women were, like, crossing the crosswalk, saying, 'It’s New York City. Nobody likes it.''
Seth Meyers, Lobby Baby

New York Roars

"New York has always come back stronger than ever. The September 11 attacks gave way to an unprecedented era on Wall Street and for Manhattan real estate. The 2008 Great Recession set the stage for the tech boom in New York and the rebirth of Brooklyn. Each time, naysayers proclaimed the death of the city. Each time, our city roared louder."
Remy Raisner, Forbes Magazine

Under Your Skin

"I feel like the ship sailed for me in terms of living in New York because I think you need to live there when you’re in your 20s – when you can be poor and energetic, and just don’t care. You can’t really live there in your 30s when you’re a bit cranky and you’re older – and certainly not in your 40s! So I feel like there is this perfect window when you can live in New York and be uncaring about it and let the city get under your skin. You can just go with the flow of the brilliance of New York City."
Cillian Murphy, BBC

New York City Prize

"New Yorkers are not easily cowed. We are not ones to be contained. We live here because we are extremely social and curious creatures. We tolerate cramped apartments because they are merely places to shower and sleep. The city is the draw, the prize, the home."
Maureen Callahan, The New York Post

Greatest City in the World

"The only thing I hate about New York is the Yankees, and that’s because I’m from Boston. I think it’s the greatest city in the world. When you’re flying toward New York, as soon as you get in the air space, the energy hits you in the airplane and you can’t sleep; you sit up."
Michael Chiklis, New York Magazine

Getting Through Anything

Williamsburg Bridge (Wikimedia Commons)

"On the Williamsburg Bridge bike path are the words in graffiti, 'Cheat Death NYC' and a heart. The combination of these bolstering words and the beautiful city skyline remind me that we’re New Yorkers. We can get through anything! Even this."
Genevieve Flagello, The New York Times

Indifferent Insolence

"In New York they murder you with a large soft wave of indifferent insolence - no annoyance, no friction. New York eats you as it eats its dinner, rather liking you."
Mary MacLane, A Diary of Human Days

Youthful Certainty

"My New York has courage. My New York has confidence. The problems of anxiety and uncertainty may cover the length and breadth of the world, but my New York is an exception. Her youthful certainty is my heart's delight."
Sri Chinmoy, America the Beautiful

Perfect New York Days

"It was one of those perfect New York days, when you know the city is a better place to live than anywhere else in the world. Riverside Park sparkled, an emerald bracelet that lay along the silver sleeve of the Hudson."
Olivia Goldsmith, Fashionably Late

New York State of Mind

Manhattan (Pixabay)

"The traditional pedestrian's right of way is, as Shakespeare says, 'more honored in the breach than the observance.' New Yorkers pay no attention whatsoever to WALK-DON'T WALK signs (it is just a part of that New York state of mind that asks: Why trust a sign? I have eyes!)"
The New York Times Guide to New York City

Streets of New York

Fifth Avenue (Pixabay)

"Broadway, New York, is a man's street, primarily, just as Fifth Avenue is a woman's. Men and women create these streets; the merchants follow the men and women."
George J. Whelan, American Magazine

Rockin' New York

"The kids are getting down up in the Bronx tonight
Times Square is lit up like it's broad daylight
They're kickin' out the jams down in ol' Bay Ridge
The joint is really jumpin' on the Brooklyn Bridge
All the hippies boppin' down on Avenue A
Put your red dress on, baby, we're on our way."
Curtis Stigers, New York Is Rockin'

Badge of Honor

"I'm a New Yorker. My badge of honor rests on my irascibility toward strangers."
Doree Lewak, The New York Post

The Point of New York

"I overstate things to stay alive. This is the point of New York. I completely love and trust this city but I know the moment I stop being angry I'm finished forever.”
Don DeLillo, Mao II

Proud New Yorker

"I'm from New York. I don't drive. I don't know how to drive. I don't know how to do something that teen-agers can do, and I’m proud of it. That’s how much of a New Yorker I am."
Susanna Wolff, The New Yorker

New York Changes

"Yes, New York is crowded. But I miss that density where you can hear five different languages in the span of a city block. Yes, New York is dirty and messy. But it always has been (it’s kinda in the brochure). Yes, New York changes. But it always has and always will, which is part of what makes it work."
George Hahn, George Hahn

Hospitable

Brooklyn (Pixabay)

"New York is a hospitable city; it is kind to everyone, newcomers as well as the old residents; always patient, very undestanding of different cultures."
Alicia P. Lejano, Narrative, Identity, and the City

Land of Opportunity

"New York: it's the land of opportunity. If a man is honest and works hard, if he's productive, there's no telling what he can accomplish."

Walter Kendrick (John Doman), Damages