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18 of Our Favorite New York Quotes

We could write a thousand love letters (and, OK, a few strongly worded editorials) to New York. But lucky for us, plenty of folks have perfectly summed up this crazy city much more eloquently than we ever could. Here are 18 New York quotes about the greatest city on earth from James Baldwin, Amy Poehler, Nora Ephron and other esteemed thinkers.

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new york quote dorothy parker

“London is satisfied, Paris is resigned, but New York is always hopeful. Always it believes that something good is about to come off, and it must hurry to meet it.” – Dorothy Parker

new york quote john steinbeck
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“Once you have lived in New York and it has become your home, no place else is good enough.” – John Steinbeck

new york quote amy poehler
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“There’s something so romantic about being broke in New York. You gotta do it. You have to live there once without any money, and then you have to live there when you have money. Let me tell you, of the two, the latter is far better.” – Amy Poehler

new york quote james baldwin
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“Whoever is born in New York is ill-equipped to deal with any other city: all other cities seem, at best, a mistake, and, at worst, a fraud. No other city is so spitefully incoherent.” – James Baldwin

new york quote johhny carson
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“Anytime four New Yorkers get into a cab together without arguing, a bank robbery has just taken place.” – Johnny Carson

new york quote agatha christie

“It is ridiculous to set a detective story in New York City. New York City is itself a detective story.” – Agatha Christie 

new york quote miles forman
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“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

new york quotes liz lemon

“You can try to change New York, but it’s like Jay-Z says: ‘Concrete bunghole where dreams are made up. There’s nothing you can do.’” – Liz Lemon, 30 Rock

new york quote tom wolfe
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“One belongs to New York instantly, one belongs to it as much in five minutes as in five years.” – Tom Wolfe

new york quote nora ephron

“I look out the window and I see the lights and the skyline and the people on the street rushing around looking for action, love, and the world's greatest chocolate chip cookie, and my heart does a little dance.” – Nora Ephron, Heartburn

new york quote f scott fitzgerald

“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 beauty in the world.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

new york quote fran lebowitz

“When you leave New York, you are astonished at how clean the rest of the world is. Clean is not enough.” – Fran Lebowitz

new york quote bill murray

“My favorite thing about New York is the people, because I think they’re misunderstood. I don’t think people realize how kind New York people are.” – Bill Murray

new york quote joan didion

“Quite simply, I was in love with New York. I do not mean ‘love’ in any colloquial way, I mean that I was in love with the city, the way you love the first person who ever touches you and you never love anyone quite that way again.” – Joan Didion

new york quote ayn rand
New York Times Co./Getty Images

“I would give the greatest sunset in the world for one sight of New York’s skyline.” – Ayn Rand

new york quotes alex baze

“The flag of New York City should be someone with four bags opening a door with their shoulder.” – Alex Baze

new york quote simone beauvoir
Gary Hershorn/Getty Images

“There is something in the New York air that makes sleep useless.” – Simone de Beauvoir

new york quotes john updike

“The true New Yorker secretly believes that people living anywhere else have to be, in some sense, kidding.” – John Updike



purewow author

Editor

From 2016-2019 Carolyn Kuang-chen Stanley held the role of Editor covering food, travel and all things nyc.