There are roughly three New Yorks. There is, first, the New York of the man or woman who was born here, who takes the city for granted and accepts its size and turbulence as natural and inevitable. Second, there is the New York of the commuter—the city that is devoured by locusts each day and spat out each night. Third, there is the New York of the person who was born somewhere else and came to New York in quest of something. Of these three trembling cities the greatest is the last—the city of final destination, the city that is a goal. It is this third city that accounts for New York’s high-strung disposition, its poetical deportment, its dedication to the arts, and its incomparable achievements. Commuters give the city its tidal restlessness; natives give it solidity and continuity; but the settlers give it passion. And whether it is a farmer arriving from Italy to set up a small grocery store in a slum, or a young girl arriving from a small town in Mississippi to escape the indignity of being observed by her neighbors, or a boy arriving from the Corn Belt with a manuscript in his suitcase and a pain in his heart, it makes no difference: each embraces New York with the intense excitement of first love, each absorbs New York with the fresh eyes of an adventurer, each generates heat and light to dwarf the Consolidated Edison Company.

Here is New York, E. B. White, 1949 (via cdixon)

One of my favorite pieces on the incomparable NYC.
Cite Arrow reblogged from cdixon
Tags: Quote Comments | 138 notes | | Oct 30, 2009

Post Notes

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    (tokyohanna, lammer, fred-wilson, cdixon)
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  20. youngmanhattanite reblogged this from dpstyles and added:
    Again, so much New York envy on Tumblr.
  21. toligalanis reblogged this from fred-wilson
  22. dpstyles reblogged this from whitneymcn and added:
    Slightly related,...better NYC anthem than Jay Z’s “Empire State of Mind?”
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  34. shripriya reblogged this from fred-wilson and added:
    a long time ago (R’s suggestion)
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    cdixon + fred-wilson) I’ve already posted this passage a couple of times, but it is essential New York reading,...
  41. jaycbee reblogged this from fred-wilson
  42. fred-wilson reblogged this from cdixon and added:
    i love that little book by E.B and especially this part of it. I came here in 1983 and made it my home and it is very...
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    the third new york is mine, and oh, how i love it.
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    I think I’d like to try out the 3rd New York.
  66. cdixon posted this
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