Scaffolding

Building in downtown Manhattan

"The scaffolding is everywhere. I think New York would fall down without it."
Jon Reiner, The Man Who Couldn't Eat

Different New York

Midtown Manhattan

"The city will withstand -- as it always has -- but the city you left behind, you left for good. The city won't miss you because you were merely a spec in its being and when you go back (and you will since the city is always calling) you'll go back to a different New York. The city never stops and already, only a few months later, you know it's changed: that's its nature."
Laura Steiner, Huff Post

Dating in New York

Dumbo

"I really liked dating in New York because you had to walk everywhere and you had to get to know each other on the walk, not just sitting in a restaurant. Also, New York is awesome because you can always go find something weird."
Aubrey Plaza, Huff Post

Godforsaken and Great

Riverside Park South

"Every now and then New York is lonely.  It’s a grid of routine. The summers are sweaty and disgusting; the winters are cold and miserable. Sometimes, it seems as if you’re suffering from Cotard Syndrome on a hungover walk to work.  In those moments, you may refer to this godforsaken city with scorn.  But, damn it, if this town isn’t great."

James Crowley, Atwood Magazine

Growing Up in New York

Alice in Wonderland statue

"It’s a really tough city to have grown up in. I feel like the thickness of my skin is definitely a result of having lived in New York, and it’s not something I realized until you leave, and you realize that you have this armor on you being from New York. It’s very interesting because being an artist is about disarming yourself and being vulnerable and New York is kind of like 'Nah–work harder.'"
Skela, Brooklyn Magazine

New York Crowds

Times Square

"The rhythm in New York is different to that in Paris, Singapore, Tokyo or Rome. Rome is hectic, whereas the crowds in New York are moving forward like a torrent of lava."
Heinz Paetzold, Senses and the City

Real New Yorker

Lower East Side

"That's how I know you're a real New Yorker. You don't swim or drive."
Anonymous, quoted in Overheard in New York

Manhattan in July

Bryant Park

"It is a beautiful evening at the end of another blistering summer day. Everything, the people, the buildings, the trees even, are visibly relieved that it is over, and there is always a huge collective sigh of relief, a lazy groan that comes with dusk over Manhattan in July."
Rupert Everett, Vanished Years

Refuge from Oppression

Falun Dafa in Madison Square Park

"New York isn’t a city of God, but a city of liberty. That statue in our harbor isn’t holding a cross, after all. It’s flourished through the ages because it’s a place where everyone is welcome, whatever their beliefs. It’s thrived because it’s a place where everyone is free to pursue the good life in whatever form they find it. New York at its best moments has been a beacon and a refuge for people fleeing oppression. That includes the religious kind."
Adam Lee, Only Sy Media

Fallen from Grace

Peace Fountain and Cathedral of St. John the Divine

"I used to think that New York City
Fell from grace with God
And innocence abroad
Waged a war for the underdog
When the snow falls
And Central Park looks like a Christmas card
I just looked beyond the bagman
And the madness that makes this city hard."
Bernie Taupin, Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters (Part 2)

New York is Like a Jewel

Diamond District

"Sometimes less is more, and in the case of Manhattan, the key to its value is its size. New York is like a jewel in and of itself. It would seem the scarcity effect is effective whether your commodity is carats of diamond or acres of bedrock."
Aja Raden, Stoned

Cultural Center of the World

Temple of Dendur

"New York is truly the cultural center of the world. There is simply no other place like it. There is more of everything in New York."
Jerry Mandel, Orange Coast Magazine

New York Symbol

Staten Island Ferry Whitehall Terminal

"When you break up with someone in New York the odds are high that one or both of you will end up paying more to live in a much crappier apartment. It's why the residents of New York think of the Statue of Liberty as the symbol of the city. After a hundred years of looking for love, she's still single, lives alone, and probably can't afford to move."
Bob Smith, Remembrance of Things I Forgot

Never Dark

Midtown Manhattan

"New York is never really dark. Not here in Manhattan. When we talk about the lights at night, we're not talking about the ones in the sky. Those are a distant thing, almost an afterthought in the great and grand nightly show that is New York."
Lexi Blake, Start Us Up

Amusement Park

Luna Park

"New York was an amusement park that people lived in. I have yet to have as much fun with as many people."
Thomas Turner, Laradio.com

Togetherness

Times Square subway station

"What I love most about New York is its people, and for me it was important to represent them and all of their wonderful complexities and diverse beauty in the piece. People looking and quietly observing together. In the subway, it’s always a togetherness that bonds us uniquely like no other place in the world."
Marcel Dzama, MTA.info

Idyllic Unattainability

Downtown Manhattan seen from Roosevelt Island

"New York is unapologetic and doesn't wait for anyone. It's a city that creates and a city that happens. New York doesn't need anything or anyone and perhaps that's exactly why you still crave it so much, because of its idyllic unattainability."
Laura Steiner, The Huff Post

Summer in New York

Long Island City

"Summer in New York is summer in New York. You know what it means when you’ve lived here. There is no way to really describe it."
Ashley Park, Playbill

New York Adventure

Trefoil Arch in Central Park

"So many films, books, television shows and musicians have personified New York that it's hard not to feel you already know it before you arrive. While many of those stereotypes ring true, entering the city -- whether the first or twentieth time -- with an open mind will make each visit seem an adventure."
Katie Pisa, CNN

America's City

City Hall

"New York City is America's city. This is the place to be. There's no place greater in diversity and strength and power in this city. If New York does well, America does well and the globe does well."
Eric Adams, speaking at the Pakistani Flag Raising

Returning to New York

Grand Central Terminal

"Every returning New Yorker asks the question: Is this still my city? I have a ready answer, cloaked in obstinate despair: It is. And if it's not, I will love it all the more. I will love it to the point where it becomes mine again."
Gary Shteyngart, Super Sad True Love Story