“The Parisian is of all men the most sophisticated. Paris is a city of realists, unaffected by sentimentality; a city of industry and thrift; a city of irony, but rarely of laughter, of wit but never or humour, of superficial intolerance and yet of people who regard the rest of the world with more or less amiable contempt.”

“For Stephen, London was less a city that never slept, more a city that got a good nine hours.”

“I dream'd in a dream I saw a city invincible to the attacks of thewhole of the rest of the earth,I dream'd that was the new city of Friends,Nothing was greater there than the quality of robust love, it led the rest,It was seen every hour in the actions of the men of that city,And in all their looks and words.”

“Planning is for the world's great cities, for Paris, London, and Rome, for cities dedicated, at some level, to culture. Detroit, on the other hand, was an American city and therefore dedicated to money, and so design had given way to expediency.”

“Paris is the only city in the world where starving to death is still considered an art.”

“CITY OF THE WORLD (FOR ALL RACES ARE HERE, ALL THE LANDS OF THE EARTH MAKE CONTRIBUTIONS HERE), CITY OF THE SEA! CITY OF WHARVES AND STORES - CITY OF TALL FACADES OF MARBLE AND IRON! PROUD AND PASSIONATE CITY - METTLESOME, MAD, EXTRAVAGANT CITY!”