My Primary Text

"On any person who desires such queer prizes, New York will bestow the gift of loneliness and the gift of privacy."

"The capacity to make such dubious gifts is a mysterious quality of New York. It can destory an individual, or it can fulfill him, depending a good deal on luck."

"New York blends the gift of privacy with the excitement of participation; and better than most dense communities it succeeds in insulating the individual (if he wants it, and almost everybody wants or needs it) against all enormous and violent and wonderful events that are taking place every minute."

"The quality in New York that insulates its inhabitants from life may simply weaken them as individuals. Perhaps it is healthier to live in a community where, when a cornice falls, you feel the blow; where, when the governor passes, you may see at any rate, his hat."

"Many of its settlers are probably here merely to escape, not face, reality."

"Although New York often imparts a feeling of greet forlornness or forsakenness, it seldom seems dead or unresourceful; and you always feel that either by shifting your location ten blocks or by reducing your fortune by fiver dollars you can experience rejuvenation."

"Of these three trembling cities the greatest is the last- the city of final destination, the city that is a goal."

"He fished in Manhattan's wallet and dug out coins, but has never listened to Manhattan's breathing, never awakened to its morning, never dropped off to sleep in its night."

"The city is like poetry: it compresses all life, all races and breeds, into a small island and adds music and the accompaniment of internal engines."

"By rights New York should have destroyed itself long ago, from panic or fire or rioting or failure of some vital supply line in its circulatory system or from some deep labyrinthine short circuit."

"The city, for the first time in its long history, is destructible. A single flight of planes no bigger than a wedge of geese can quickly end this island fantasy, burn the towers, crumble the bridges, turn the underground passages into lethal chambers, cremate the millions."

The main idea of this essay, Here is New York, is concentrated around the idea of New York City, its fascination, its vibrancy, and its bittersweetness. The adoration the city has from many is comparable to none; the city itself takes on life and has its own struggles that are felt by the citizens that walk within it, and their day to day routines reflect their desires and turmoil much more exquisitely than anywhere else.