"New York was full of wonders, different from Chicago, brighter, cleaner. The clear sunlight was a startling contrast to the smoky atmosphere of the crude city I had left...Now and then I meandered into the heart of the East Side. Here was stark poverty, even worse than I had seen in the slums of Chicago. Great numbers of children played amid filth and debris in the narrow streets. Old people sat on doorsteps or moved listlessly along the walks. They seemed to have lost hope. Gangs of toughs congregated on corners. But looking at all this squalor I felt instinctively that most human beings did not prefer dirt to cleanliness, and they did not like stealing better than earning, nor a bad name better than a good one."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Art Young: His Life and Times (1939)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/New_York_City
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
New York City
149 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by New York City →
Related Quotes
"Nothing remains static in New York City."
"You know what’s great about New York? The threshold for citizenship as a New Yorker is actually pretty short. If you …"
"A certified geezer is also freer to express displeasure. Once I was walking in midtown Manhattan at rush hour, and I …"
"Two invasive species in particular have caused serious concern: Burmese pythons, and New Yorkers. The New Yorkers hav…"
"Everybody ought to have a lower East Side in their life."
"The global role of the United States is perhaps the ultimate chapter in that long period of European expansion which …"
"Where I come from, the rules were relatively simple... Don't look for trouble, because in New York you can always fin…"
"Just where the Treasury's marble front * Looks over Wall Street's mingled nations,— Where Jews and Gentiles most are …"
"I'll give you another example of what I'm talking about. We've traveled extensively in the United States, and our son…"
"I can't see heaven but I credit hell — I live in New York so I know it well."