On Fire

Engine 47 in Morningside Heights

"New York has always been in charge. When New York is on fire, the world is on fire."
Shaquille O'Neal, New York Post

Playground

Lego store in the Flatiron District

"The good thing about New York is that you’re never bored. I mean, it’s a playground for adults and children. Sometimes my kids say, 'Why don’t we live in the country?' But I say, 'You guys are going to be thanking us when you’re older, because New York City, what a great place to live.' You’re never bored, you don’t have to ever repeat a restaurant. It’s such an amazing fantasyland."
David Burtka, New York Post

On the Move

Williamsburg

"New York City is a big-goal place, but it’s also a place where a lot of people work hard with what they do. Everybody is on the move, and everybody is trying to get to a certain place."
Xavier McKinney, New York Post

Muttering to Yourself

"I’ve always found an avenue here for my own word obsessions and compulsion to mimic people vocally. I think New York is the only city in America where you can walk down the street muttering to yourself and nobody really pays attention.”
Edward Norton, New York Post

The Chosen City

"We regard ourselves as The Chosen City. Our sense of exceptionalism is built on the idea that we’re blessed with more talent, grit and guts than anywhere else. In your eye, al-Qaeda! Blow yourself silly, hurricanes! Today’s horrific, inconceivable body count makes it too easy to minimize these earlier disasters. But each seemed an affront to the very qualities that make New York different — our diversity, our economic and cultural primacy, our openness to the outside world. Yet each left us economically and spiritually a stronger place."
Steve Cuozzo, The New York Post

Inmortal City

"I take it really personally when I see articles saying, 'New York is dead.' It’s New York City. New York will never ever be dead. New York is the most resilient city and it always prevails."
Nicky Hilton, The New York Post

Accelerated Evolution

American Museum of Natural History (Pixabay)

"The city has always had to invent new reasons for people to come and stay. As a result, New Yorkers exist in a state of accelerated evolution. Faced with the loss of an industry, business or job, we dust ourselves off and either fix it or make a new one. We never, ever, accept defeat."
Stephen P. Diamond Jr, The New York Post

Down the Tubes

Madison Square Garden

"If New York’s going to go down the tubes, I’m going to go back to New York."
Billy Joel, quoted in the New York Post

Boise

"Brooklyn really is just a quiet little town adjoining this massive city. It’s kind of like if Boise were attached to New York City."
Mike Birbiglia, The New York Post

New York City Prize

"New Yorkers are not easily cowed. We are not ones to be contained. We live here because we are extremely social and curious creatures. We tolerate cramped apartments because they are merely places to shower and sleep. The city is the draw, the prize, the home."
Maureen Callahan, The New York Post

Badge of Honor

"I'm a New Yorker. My badge of honor rests on my irascibility toward strangers."
Doree Lewak, The New York Post

Friendliest People

"I think New Yorkers are some of the friendliest people in the world, but it just comes out in a different way, in a way where they're swearing at you."
Ellie Kemper, The New York Post

Wave of Energy

“I think is New York the most beautiful city in the world. There is an extraordinary wave of energy. So much happens, the best of the world is here."
Franco Zeffirelli, The New York Post

Hidden Gems

Flatiron Building

"What never ceases to amaze me about New York is how much there is to see if you take the time to look. Every street has a hidden gem or two: remnants of a bygone era, beautiful architectural flourishes, an interesting oddity or quirk. And yet, I find that most of it goes unnoticed by the hundreds, if not thousands, of daily passersby in too much of a hurry to pay attention."
Nick Carr, New York Post

Healthy and Unhealthy Living

East River Waterfront

"Every day in New York is a marathon of healthy and unhealthy living. You spend your nights downing beers with friends and your mornings filled with yoga classes and exercise. You spend your evenings eating pizza and greasy fries and your afternoons drinking pomegranate juice and green tea. You pop a vitamin supplement. Then you guzzle coffee."

Mandy Stadtmiller, New York Post

Female Force

Allen Street

"New York is one of the biggest love stories of my life. The energy is this intense, female force, and I can't get enough.”

Fredrik Eklund, New York Post

Complicated

"Everything about life in New York is complicated. From weaving through the nincompoops at Penn Station to dodging crickets on the D train, an NYC existence is nonstop, neurotic and in-your-face."
Johnny Oleksinski, New York Post

Heartbeat of the City

"I like everything about New York. That heartbeat of the city, which sounds cliché but it's true. There's a rhythm in the city that forces you to get up and go whether you're having a good day or a bad day, and I've always respected that."
John Krasinski, New York Post

Exceeds Expectations

"It is one of the few places I've gone to where it exceeded expectations. Everyone's expectation of New York is so big, and then you go, 'Oh, it really is like no other place on Earth!'"
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, The New York Post