Young and Vibrant

Grant's Tomb

"New York is too young and vibrant for the ruins and grand monuments to the past that are the trademarks of European capitals. People come here for the buzz of Times Square, not for the silence of Grant's Tomb or our other monuments to the dead."
John Tierney, The New York Times

Place to Dance

East Village

"This is New York. We'll find a place to dance."
John M. Ford, 110 Stories

Married to New York

Dumbo

"New York is my wife — I always come back to her."
Joseph Stella, quoted in New York Nocturne

Anything You Want

Central Park

"There’s a chaotic energy to the city that is completely unique to New York. And what I love about New York is that there are places you can go, like Central Park, where you’re like, 'Wait, I’m in the city?' And places in Brooklyn where you can’t fathom there’s a forest in the city. You can find pretty much anything you want in New York, and it’s exciting to be here."
Dave Dresden, EDMIdentity

New York Cliché

Statue of Liberty

"New York is also, to some extent, a cliché. Tourists descend — 66.6 million in 2019 alone — like fruit flies on an overripe banana for a chance to visit its world-class museums, eat its renowned cuisine and walk the same streets immortalized in gritty Martin Scorsese films (or dizzy Nora Ephron romcoms)."

Isabel Slone, The Star

Working Class

Public Housing in the Lower East Side

"There’s a popular sentiment in some circles of this city that believe that Manhattan, for instance, has become a place only for the wealthy, that the working-class have all been pushed out. Don’t believe the hype. Working-class people do live in this city. They’re still living side by side with the well-heeled. This has been the case in this incredible city for generations." 
Bobby Cannavale, The New York Times 

Leaving New York

Grand Central Terminal

"I don't know very many people who live in New York, who don't also say, 'But I'm leaving.' I've been thinking of leaving for ... thirty-five years now. I'm almost ready."
Paul Auster, Collected Screenplays

Comfort for Insomniacs

Midtown Manhattan

"I am a lifelong insomniac, so it was inevitable that I would make New York my home. Even if I don’t venture out late on a given night, it is a great comfort, at 2 a.m. or 4 a.m., to know that I can, that there are others out there on the streets, working and playing, restless and questing for love, drugs, food, sex, or cash, that the streets are bathed in yellow light."
Jay McInerney, New York Magazine 

Summer in New York

Ferry dock at Governors Island

"If I'm in NYC, I love walking around during the summer. It's hot, but I love it. I enjoy seeing everyone out. New York is such a fun place. The energy is so amazing here during the summer."
Behati Prinsloo, Teen Vogue

Everyone Wants to Come to New York

Rubin Museum of Art

"Everyone wants to come to New York. It’s the greatest city in the world for a reason. We’ve got the best pizza, Broadway shows, and plenty to keep everyone occupied from museums to shopping to parks."
Josh Benjamin, Elite Sports NY

Take a Cab

Park Avenue

"You can say New York is beautiful 
and it wouldn't be a headline 
and it wouldn't be lie.
Just take a cab and not the 6,
it's never once in ten years
been on time. It's orbiting
some other world 
where there are sunsets
every hour and no money
and no us--that's luck!"
Alex Dimitrov, Love and Other Poems

Genuine Love

Tree in Central Park

"One thing I love about New York is I feel a very genuine love here that is really, really special. There's something special about New Yorkers. You can't buy that, and you can't fake it either."
Quinta Brunson, Harper's Bazaar

Third World Country

Bus on Broadway

"I've been thinking a lot about the Mayans, about the Incas, about the Pueblo Indians, about all those civilizations that built great cities only to then mysteriously and suddenly disappear. 'And nobody knows where they went,' said Miss Shell, my third grade teacher. I know where they went, because I've seen New York.  New York is my favorite Third World country, but the place simply doesn't work." 
Robert X. Cringely, InfoWorld

Go Anywhere and Do Anything

NYC Ferry

"One of the things that I love about New York is that you leave the house and you want to feel like you can go anywhere and do anything for the whole day."
Emily Ratajkowski, WWD

Absolute Magic

Empire State Building

"There is nothing inherently romantic about living in New York City. It’s a place that makes you earn your stay, whether with the absurd cost of rent, a twenty-minute walk from your apartment to the bus stop in the middle of a blizzard just to get to work, or squeezing onto a crowded subway car at rush hour in the summer heat, only to find out the air conditioner is broken. Life in New York demands blood, sweat, and tears. But once you band-aid up your blisters, wipe your brow, and dry your eyes, you begin to see it: the absolute magic the city gives you as a reward for making it through another day."
Kate Spencer, CultureFly

Whoever You Want to Be

Long Island City

"You're in New York now, so you be whoever you want to be."
John Maguire (Johnathon Schaech), Time of Your Life 

Rainbow Mix of People

Carmelo Anthony wax figure at Madame Tussauds

"New York is synonymous with diversity—a rainbow mix of people representing every different race and ethnic group."
Carmelo Anthony, Where Tomorrows Aren't Promised

Neurotic

Bellevue Hospital

"It's so much better to be a neurotic in New York than in Nashville. There they liked me but they didn't understand me. Here they like me and understand me."
Stanley Siegel, New York Magazine

City on the Water

Lightship Ambrose

"New York is a city on the water. It’s easy to forget that as we travel through it on its streets or underground, but the city’s waterfront — once largely used by industry and now full of parks — was in large part responsible for New York’s growth and success. As seen from the water, the city’s street grid seems to melt away, and its buildings emerge as part of a sprawling cityscape, each etching its profile against the sky."
Thomas Mellins, Forbes Magazine

Capital of the World

U.N. Way

"New York is the capital of the world in my opinion, and if you’re not from here, you always want to visit."
Sai de Silva, Page Six

Old New York

Parking lot in downtown Manhattan

"I have no nostalgia for old New York, with its hookers, heroin addicts, and constant threat of robbery or rape. I'm happy to sacrifice fast food and hardcover books for general personal safety, which I guess makes me about as uncool as they come."
Coco Mellors, Cleopatra and Frankenstein

The Best Thing About Leaving New York

La Guardia Airport

"I’ve just been yearning for New York City. London’s a great place to be for a while, but I always say one of the best things about leaving New York is you get to come back."
Aaron Tveit, The Hollywood Reporter