New York Ambience

"You come to New York to find the ambience that will evoke your best. You do not necessarily know precisely what that might be, but you come to New York to discover it."
James Hillman, quoted in The New York Times World of New York

Love-Hate

Metropolitan Opera House

"There is a love-hate relationship between New York and the rest of the country, but New York is unarguably the city that sets the standards, the city in which all who have anything to do with the arts dream of working and succeeding."
Harold Schonberg, New York Times World of New York

Obsessed with Light

Zuccotti Park

"New York has never been a dark city, but never has it been so obsessed with light as now. The city has become brightly, intensely lit up -- every month, it seems, a new skyscraper top goes ablaze with floodlights, every season a new skyscraper top goes ablaze with light."
Paul Goldberger, New York Times World of New York

Intellectual Life

Rose Main Reading Room

"The intellectual life is why I am a New Yorker. It's why I stay here. I spend my summers in Europe and when they ask me if I'm an American, I say, 'No, I'm a New Yorker.' I don't know about everyone else, but for me that's a positive statement."
Alexander Alland, Jr, quoted in New York Times World of New York

Thought and Cheesecake

Le Penseur at Columbia University

"When a man is tired of New York he is tired of work. And thought. And cheesecake."
David Frost, The New York Times World of New York