"The city of New York is difficult to describe or understand save in terms of paradox, and so, perhaps, it is more satisfactory, for those who may, to instinctively feel the metropolis rather than to attempt to comprehend her” .
Carl van Vechten, Parties
"It is almost impossible at any season of the year or in any quarter of the city to escape the sound of blasting, which reminds one that Manhattan, like the church of Rome, is built on solid rock."
Carl Van Vechten, quoted in Capital: New York, Capital of the 20th Century
"It is strange that Americans have never adopted the English habit of carrying umbrellas, for New York is quite able to produce a cloud-burst out of the sky on the most clement day. When, however, the sun shines in New York, be it warm or cold, the heart is happy, and it is probable that the sun shines more often there than in any other capital of the world."
Carl van Vechten, Parties: Scenes from Contemporary New York Life
"New York is in a constant state of mutation. If a city conceivably may be compared to a liquid, it may be reasonably said that New York is fluid: it flows."
Carl Van Vechten, Parties
