“A city that outdistances man's walking powers is a trap for man.”

“I turn away from him and step into the vastness of New Crobuzon, this towering edifice of architecture and history, this complexitude of money and slum, this profane steam-powered god. I turn and walk into the city my home, not bird or garuda, not miserable crossbreed.I turn and walk into my home, the city, a man.”

“Walking is the only form of transportation in which a man proceeds erect - like a man - on his own legs, under his own power. There is immense satisfaction in that.”

“A city which belongs to just one man is no true city”

“The man of power is ruined by power, the man of money by money, the submissive man by subservience, the pleasure seeker by pleasure.”

“It was never wise for a ruler to eschew the trappings of power, for power itself flows in no small measure from such trappings.”