Alive Twenty Hours a Day

Zuccotti Park

"It is a true city where living, working, eating, shopping all take place on the same block. In other cities the commercial areas are dead after working hours. Not so New York. It lives twenty four hours a day."
Rhys Bowen, Jungle Red Writers

New York is a Movie

Number 1 subway train

"New York is a movie in itself. It’s enough to sit on the subway on the way to school to see that everyone around is a fully developed fictional character. Inspiration is everywhere, and what’s most fascinating is in every little detail."

Mina Sundwall, Grumpy Magazine

Never Quiet or Peaceful

Piano in Washington Square Park

"'Manhattan is never really quiet or peaceful, Oscar,' Miss Withers told him. 'Sometimes it is hushed—but only with the hush that comes just before the crescendo movement of a Wagnerian opera.'"
Stuart Palmer, The Riddles of Hildegarde Withers

Antidote to Elsewhere

Times Square

"New York is not usually a place for pretending you are elsewhere. It is the antidote to elsewhere."

Editorial, The New York Times

Ladder

Morningside Heights

"New York is a ladder that always leads us to greater opportunity."
Christine Quinn, State of the City Address

New York Preference

"Red Cube" by Isamu Noguchi

"I'd rather feel empty in New York than feel fulfilled anywhere else."
Anonymous, via Overheard in New York

Wonderful Anarchy

East Village

"One thing I like about New York is that it's ugly. There's a wonderful anarchy. New York has all the ugliness and terror of the 20th century. But if you look closely, all the beauty and sublimity is there, too. All the contradictions. Everything that's nice about this century and everything that's awful is here."
Charles Simic, The New York Times

New York is a Village

Greenwich Village

"It just underlines my theory that New York is a village,' he says. 'Sooner or later, you meet everyone.'"
Gemma Burgess, Brooklyn Girls

A Calling

Empire State Building

"It's kind of a calling, right? New York."
Tess (Ella Purnell), Sweetbitter

New York Mystery

Dumbo

"New York is sort of a mystery to me and that’s why I like it. It’s constantly changing and you don’t know what’s behind doors but you’re kind of allowed to go and explore. It’s the best."
Piper Perabo, Grazia 

Blue and Red

Park Avenue

"Manhattan was stretched out before her like a handful of jewels. Blue. The city that never wanted you to leave. Red. So it offered you everything, anything."
Coco Mellors, Cleopatra and Frankenstein

Will You Be Mine?

Bow Bridge

"Oh New York City, we have been through a lot in our long relationship. Remember when I said I would never date you because you didn’t ever bathe? But then I grew to see that dirty equals gritty, and that’s sexy, baby. So I gave you a chance, and you charmed me with your epic personality, your immensely diverse talents, your delicious delicacies, your infectious and adventurous energy, your muscular brawn mixed with your gentle humanity, and your insane ability to scrape the sky. And now we’ve been married for more than 30 years. Still, as I do every year, I must ask you, my dear New York City... will you be mine?"
Carrie Preston, New York Daily News

Snowbound

Lower East Side

"New York. This city is snowbound and every time you look round, someone has skidded on to their back in the street. New York is cold in a way London never is: here your face freezes, here the fluid in your eyes seems to ice over."
Hanif Kureishi, Collected Essays

Battle for a Box

"Finding an apartment in New York City is about as much fun as dental surgery without Novocain. And who am I to judge? First there's the matter of traipsing all over the city to actually look at the apartments. Then once you've weeded out the ones that resemble jail cells or have walls so thin it sounds like you're living in a night club, there's the matter of being first in line to get it. In Manhattan one must wage battle with others for an overpriced box."
Al Roker, You Look So Much Better in Person

Magical Chaos

Madison Avennue

"The best way I can describe NYC would be magical chaos. It’s vibrant, loud, and always inviting you to explore more with every crossing you rush across, and every cosy little street you turn down."

Alice Catherine, AliceCatherine.com

What New York Teaches You

Teachers College

"Things always change. And New York teaches you that. It's healthy to know that and to learn not to be sentimental or nostalgic because you can't stop it."
Richard Hell, quoted in EV Grieve

Why New York is So Great

Chinatown

"I learned so much from this city. In this city you never feel you are a foreigner, New York is great only because New York is mixed; there’s people from everywhere, and they are so passionate."
Ai Weiwei, Artsy

New York City, Baby

Chrysler Building

"Why would you wanna go somewhere else? Everything we want is here. This New York City, baby!"
Tommy Egan (Joseph Sikora), Power

What Ever Happened to Fun

CBGB mosaic in Astor Place

"Every generation believes the real New York ended when their version gives way to what's next. There should be an oral history of New York called 'What Ever Happened to Fun,' in which a member of every living generation pinpoints the exact moment New York ended and why their party was the best."
Glynnis MacNicol, Elle Magazine

Everything Comes to You

"What I am most looking forward to about New York is that you don’t have to do anything. Everything comes to you. I’m a people-watcher. It’s my favorite thing. New York is the capital of people-watching."
Rachel Weisz, New York Magazine

How to Make It in New York

Williamsburg

"You know how it is, being our age in New York? I mean, you have to hustle if you wanna make it here."
"Kimber Min" (Ashley Park), Only Murders in the Building