Freer

"The reason I came to New York and the reason most people used to come to New York, and maybe some still do, is because it is freer than wherever we came from."
Fran Lebowitz, Five Books

City of Immigrants

"New York is a city of immigrants. You become a New Yorker through being in New York, not through having been born in New York."
Hermione Hoby, Five Books

Emotional Palimpsest

"The city is an emotional palimpsest for all its inhabitants. There's that certain street corner, where you had your first kiss with someone, or there's that street crossing where you had an argument. These places become so emotionally freighted for everyone who lives in the city and, of course, that might be the same street corner that you see in, say, Woody Allen’s Manhattan."
Hermione Hoby, Five Books