New York City Quotes: Capturing the Essence of the Big Apple

"We played one warm-up gig at this bar that was kinda like that bar in 'The Blues Brothers' with the chicken wire. This place called The Brick House, in Housatonic. I really can't believe we're going to play for people in New York City. I'm terrified, but it's a small enough room. But it's really just supposed to be for the fun of it"

Lauren Ambrose, Actress

"New York City is a great monument to the power of money and greed... a race for rent"

Frank Lloyd Wright, Architect

"It is ridiculous to set a detective story in New York City. New York City is itself a detective story"

Agatha Christie, Writer

"From the top of the quarry cliffs, one could see the New Jersey suburbs bordered by the New York City skyline"

Robert Smithson, Artist

"The knife of corruption endangered the life of New York City. The scalpel of the law is making us well again"

Edward Koch, Politician

"The New York City Ballet is obviously speaking to a whole new generation and bringing it the same wonder and beauty that it brought previous generations"

Robert Caro, Writer

"Sooner or later they are going to live in a New York City where gay marriage is not only legal, but it's common and they don't even notice"

Anthony Weiner, Politician

"Right now a lot of people are still choosing to go to Toronto instead of shooting in New York City, something I haven't done and something I hope I'll never have to do"

Spike Lee, Director

"There were eleven publishers in New York City, and when it was all over, I think it went down to four or five, and then finally just the three of them, the Big Three"

Dan DeCarlo, Cartoonist

"Well, I work out three to four times a week, in a gym, which - thank God - is right in my building here in New York City. It's in the Reebok building, and it's got every kind of weightlifting equipment you can imagine, spread out over six floors, plus basketball courts and everything else. And because it's right in the building, there's no excuse"

Regis Philbin, Entertainer

"The attacks on the World Trade Center and the current economic recession, which is particularly powerful in New York City, have put a number of building plans on hold for the time being"

David Rockefeller, Businessman

"When people meet me, many times they're very surprised because they expect someone who is kind of wacky with seven piercings and very hip and cool and New York City, and I'm not"

Augusten Burroughs, Writer

"Years ago I wanted to buy an apartment in New York City. I was a single female - I had gone through my divorce - I had three children, I was in show business and black. It was, like, impossible"

Diana Ross, Actress

"When I was still in my psychiatric residency training in New York City, I was subjected to the doctor draft of that time, during the early fifties, at the time of the Korean War"

Robert Jay Lifton, Psychologist

"Not only is New York City the nation's melting pot, it is also the casserole, the chafing dish and the charcoal grill"

John Lindsay, Politician

"I often feel that my days in New York City, that I was here for five years, didn't get one job, went on a thousands of auditions and literally did not get a job on a soap, not a movie, not TV, not nothing, although I did do some commercials thank God"

Aaron Eckhart, Actor

"I live not too far from it in New York City"

Piper Perabo, Actress

"And the most unusual and surrealistic place in New York City is Central Park"

Christo, Artist

"I started to get very well recognized in the early seventies as the only man in the United States who had been elected three times to the board of NOW in New York City"

Warren Farrell, Writer

"New York City has finally hired women to pick up the garbage, which makes sense to me, since, as I've discovered, a good bit of being a woman consists of picking up garbage"

Anna Quindlen, Journalist

"I knew I couldn't live in America and I wasn't ready to move to Europe so I moved to an island off the coast of America - New York City "

Spalding Gray, Actor

"I'm preparing for a multimedia theater piece, Airport Music, that's coming up in New York City"

Jessica Hagedorn, Playwright

"And it was where I learned how to play tennis and eventually became captain of the tennis team at the school and was on the Junior Davis Cup in New York City"

Sanford I. Weill, Businessman

"Everything seems to be going faster and faster. It's really harder to create something that endures. The New York City Ballet has succeeded in doing that"

Robert Caro, Writer

"I just would like to spend more time in New York City"

Scott Speedman, Actor

"I have taught students from the New York City area so long I have a special affinity and rapport with them. It surprises me sometimes that there are students from anywhere else"

Robert Morgan, Soldier

"I live in New York City, the stories of my films take place in New York; I'm a New York filmmaker"

Spike Lee, Director

"I quit my band in New York City in 1969 and I got really angry at them. I got angry at one of my guitar players and I dove over the drum set and we got into a fight"

Steven Tyler, Musician

"No place epitomizes the American experience and the American spirit more than New York City"

Michael Bloomberg, Politician

"I come to Fashion Week events in New York City twice a year"

Oksana Baiul, Athlete

"My mother was told she couldn't go to medical school because she was a woman and a Jew. So she became a teacher in the New York City public school system"

Marilyn Hacker, Poet

"I took a plane from New York City to Los Angeles for an audition. I met all the people. After that, I was told to have another audition, but I didn't want to go there again"

Ed O'Neill, Actor

"Shortly thereafter, some friends encouraged me to try out for the Miss South Carolina World beauty pageant. To my surprise, I won - and was sent to New York City to compete nationally"

Donna Rice, Celebrity

"We have been actively trying to have New York City host the 2012 Olympics"

George Pataki, Politician

"I stayed in New York City for the first time, I'd always wanted to do that"

Amy Sedaris, Actress

"I think the obvious answer is I was raised in New York City, so growing up, not only myself but my family, like my father, we would watch a lot of Scorsese films"

Anthony Michael Hall, Actor

"The people really are what make New York City great"

David Dinkins, Politician

"Some of us claim that New York City is the capital of the country, indeed the capital of the world. Now, that may be a bit much for those who don't come from New York, but clearly we are an important city for reasons of our cultural advantages"

David Dinkins, Politician

"Every single day, we have hundreds, if not thousands of police officers protecting the lives of not just New Yorkers, but the millions who come to New York City to work and to vacation"

Vito Fossella, Politician

"The reason I took Early Edition - besides the fact that I liked it - was that it enabled me to start a production company in New York City. It's a low-budget film company to produce and direct movies"

Fisher Stevens, Actor

Page 1 of 3