New York City, often known simply as New York, is the epitome of the American Dream. Bursting with energy, creativity, ambition, and opportunities, this bustling metropolis has captured the hearts of millions around the world. Its vibrancy and dynamism are reflected in the many quotes that celebrate this city’s unique spirit and charm. These quotes pay tribute to the city’s beauty, diversity, resilience, and the profound effect it has on those who visit or call it home.
Here are 20 popular quotes about New York City:
- “Give me such shows — give me the streets of Manhattan!” – Walt Whitman
- “New York is not a city – it’s a world.” – Iman
- “There is something in the New York air that makes sleep useless.” – Simone de Beauvoir
- “The city seen from the Queensboro Bridge is always the city seen for the first time, in its first wild promise of all the mystery and the beauty in the world.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
- “One can’t paint New York as it is, but rather as it is felt.” – Georgia O’Keeffe
- “The thing about New York is you can leave your house without a plan and always end up at the right place.”– Anon
- “Once you have lived in New York and made it your home, no place else is good enough.” – John Steinbeck
- “New York was a city where you could be frozen to death in the midst of a busy street and nobody would notice.” – Bob Dylan
- “One belongs to New York instantly, one belongs to it as much in five minutes as in five years.” – Tom Wolfe
- “I would give the greatest sunset in the world for one sight of New York’s skyline.” – Ayn Rand
- “In New York, you’ve got to have all the luck.” – Charles Bukowski
- “A hundred times have I thought New York is a catastrophe and 50 times: It is a beautiful catastrophe.” – Le Corbusier
- “In the end, we’ll all become stories. Might as well be a good one, eh?” – Tom Hiddleston
- “New York is made up of millions of different people, and they all come here looking for something.” – Lindsey Kelk
- “I get out of the taxi and it’s probably the only city which in reality looks better than on the postcards, New York.” – Milos Forman
- “Practically everybody in New York has half a mind to write a book — and does.” – Groucho Marx
- “I love New York, even though it isn’t mine, the way something has to be, a tree or a street or a house, something, anyway, that belongs to me because I belong to it.” – Truman Capote
- “There is no place like it, no place with an atom of its glory, pride, and exultancy. It lays its hand upon a man’s bowels; he grows drunk with ecstasy; he grows young and full of glory, he feels that he can never die.” – Walt Whitman
- “Each neighborhood of the city appeared to be made of a different substance, each seemed to have a different air pressure, a different psychic weight: the bright lights and shuttered shops, the housing projects and luxury hotels, the fire escapes and city parks.” – Teju Cole
- “There is more sophistication and less sense in New York than anywhere else on the globe.” – Elbert Hubbard
These quotes represent the charm of the city that has touched a chord with writers, artists, and dreamers from across the globe. Each of these expressions provides a unique perspective of the city, capturing both its grandeur and the myriad emotions it evokes. Hopefully, these quotes about New York City have provided inspiration and a sense of the magic that awaits in the city that never sleeps.