“That's how quickly New York City comes about - like a weather wane - or the head of a cobra. Time tells which.”

“On the morning of Friday, July first, I had a low-paying job at a waning publisher and a dwindling circle of semi-acquaintances. On Friday, July eighth, I had one foot in the door of Condé Nast and the other in the door of the Knickerbocker Club—the professional and social circles that would define the next thirty years of my life.That’s how quickly New York City comes about—like a weather vane—or the head of a cobra. Time tells which.”

“My dad was the town drunk. Most of the time that's not so bad; but New York City?”

“New York City in life was much like New York City in death. It was still hard to get a cab, for example.”

“There is nothing Tourettic about the New York City subways.”

“...for in that city [New York] there is neurosis in the air which the inhabitants mistake for energy.”