Cultures and Culture

Lincoln Center

"It's the greatest city in the world, with the greatest assortment of cultures and culture, and a great variety of experiences that allows each person to have a different set of memories and sentiments. New York offers great opportunities at a great cost. You have to sacrifice a lot to make it there."
Sari Botton, The Atlantic 

Recreating New York

NoHo

"People are always nostalgic about the New York they've read about. They are always trying to recreate those feelings, that mystique. It always ends up cheap, garish, and the worst crime of all, inauthentic."
Marlowe Granados, Happy Hour

World Metaphor

Little Italy

"What I like about New York is that it’s kind of a metaphor of the rest of the world–there’s a neighborhood for every country of the world."
Cedric Klapisch, Coming Soon

New York Woman

Gramercy Park

"Even at thirteen, Sally was a New York Woman. She knew how to wear black."
Jean Hanff Korelitz, The Latecomer

The Beauty of New York

Statue of Liberty

"Maybe New York is the only place where no one cares where you come from. You just have to deliver. And that’s the beauty of New York."
Alexei Ratmansky, Gothamist

Character in Its Own Right

Broome Street

"I think almost more than any other city, New York City operates as a character in its own right. And that’s true if you live there. There are days when New York is your best friend, you’re granted these little moments of grace. There are moments where it seems like the city itself is out to personally ruin your life. You have to interact with it like a person."
Naomi Krupitsky, Feminist Book Club

Stacked

Upper West Side

"The whole idea of New York is that everyone is stacked in these boxes on top of each other having to interact and live together. You take the same elevator and walk in through the same lobby — it’s unavoidable and horrible and wonderful all at the same time."
Curt Beech, Indie Wire

Truest Selves

Midtown Manhattan

"I came to New York because I needed the city, and New York is for people who need cities, for those who cannot function outside of one. Open and permissive, insulating you with the sort of anonymity you can't find in a small town or suburb, the city allows us to expand, experiment, and become our truest selves."
Jeremiah Moss, Vanishing New York

One True Love

Hotel on Rivington

"Like any romantically involved couple, New York City and I have a few things to work on. At the height of the summer — with the crazy heat and terrible smells — I take every chance to escape for a weekend. But when my plane lands on the return flight, my stomach does flips when I see the skyline. I am home, reunited with my one true love."
Marshall Bright, Refinery29

Cabs Everywhere

                                                          Eighth Avenue

"That is one of the things I love about New York. If you wish to get away from an unpleasant situation immediately, there are cabs everywhere, ready to make you feel, at least for five minutes, that you are having the last word,  by way of the very satisfying sound of a slammed car door."
Carlene Bauer, Frances and Bernard

Like God

Archangel Gabriel statue at St. John the Divine

"New York didn't set out to charm you. It was like God that way. You had to bring a lot of the enthusiasm yourself. He liked the idea of that. Of being somewhere that would not pander to him, but which would not single him out for any special cruelty either. "
Jonathan Lee, The Great Mistake

Become Anything and Anyone

Times Square subway station

"New York City is the only city in the world where you can come from anything and be anyone and become anything and become anyone. One of the things I'm most proud of in my entire life is that I became a New Yorker."
Annaleigh Ashford, NYC Next

Nora Ephron Movie

Flatiron Plaza

"Mom came to New York hoping for the set of a Nora Ephron movie (my namesake), but the real New York is so much better. Because every kind of person is there, coexisting, sharing space and life."
Emily Henry, Book Lovers

New York Dream

East Village

"That kind of toughness that New York has, people who live here have that toughness, too. Where it’s, like, I’m going to make it no matter what. I know to the outside it looks as if I’m struggling or that this is a fool’s errand, but to me, I know this is all going to happen. It’s this unbreakable spirit that New York has. We’re all in this struggle together, and one day, I’m going to have an apartment with a washer-dryer in the apartment. That was my dream for so long, and I made it happen. I was like, I’ve made it!"
Phoebe Robinson, The Washington Post

Funny City

"What a funny city New York was – eight million people, and no one knew anybody and didn't really want to."
Patricia Highsmith, A Dog's Ransom

Little Brother

Jane's Carousel and Manhattan Bridge

"Brooklyn's like the little, the fighty little brother to Manhattan, or like the Australia to America. I's like on the outside looking in, but you get the better view."

Sarah Snook, Late Night with Seth Meyers

Extraordinary City

The Churchill Tavern

"New York is indeed an extraordinary city full of original people, with original ideas. And if I may say so I've been so hugely impressed by the sheer scale of generosity and philanthropy you find in this city."
Prince Charles, speech at MoMA

Leaving New York

George Washington Bridge and Jeffrey's Hook Light 

"The more I travel, the calmer I feel when I return to New York. This city has a way of getting under your skin sometimes. Things can get hyperbolic and it seems as if everyone is floating on supercompressed hot air, which can be stifling. And when you feel like this place is too much, and you are ready to leave, you go on a trip somewhere—anywhere—and soon you cannot wait to get back. What's the phrase? 'Nothing makes you love New York more than when you leave it'?"
Toyin Ojih Odutola, Vice 

Death by Money

Kenmare Street

"I feel like the people are boring. I don’t feel like the city is boring. Obviously all this money came in, and you stopped seeing little stores. Every corner is a bank or a drug store. It's insane! So that kills Manhattan right there. Manhattan's dead."
Colin Quinn, Gothamist

Inspiration

Fifth Avenue

"New York is such an inspiration for me. It's the city of dreams, dynamism, and energy."
Olivier Rousteing, Fashion Network

New York is an Apparition

Gantry Plaza State Park

"New York is not a city. It is an apparition, a phantom, a vision – a frontier outpost of a territory yet to be conquered, possessed, named. Americans will have conquered and colonized another planet sooner than claim New York as the capital of their empire."
Hamid Dabashi, Can Non-Europeans Think?

Say Hello to New York City

Lower East Side

"Stroll the midtown streets
And tell me that you don't feel giddy
Lady Liberty ain't throwing us a wink or is she
Travel light and see the world right
You never know you never go so
Run away with me
And say hello to New York City 
Say hello to New York City."
Adam Young, New York City

Disneyland for Grown-Ups

Chelsea

"New York is a playground, Gina tells me. Disneyland for grown-ups. I should move to New York."
Aryn Kyle, Boys and Girls Like You and Me