"I have struck a city—a real city—and they call it Chicago … I urgently desire never to see it again. It is inhabited by savages."
— Rudyard Kipling, 1891
"It rained and fogged in Chicago and muddy-flowing people oozed thick in the canyon-beds of the streets. Yet it seemed to more alive and more real than New York."
— D. H. Lawrence
"There's a bright, sunny day in Chicago
There's a bright, sunny day in Chicago
Corruption's as high as an elephant's eye
And the meters cost $74.25"
There's a bright, sunny day in Chicago
Corruption's as high as an elephant's eye
And the meters cost $74.25"
(Bartlet and Leo are on their way to a meeting with Babish)
Leo: You're scared of Babish.
Bartlet: Oh, like you're not.
Leo: No, because we are both men of Chicago.
Bartlet: What is it with people from Chicago that they're so happy to have been born there? I meet so many people who can't wait to tell me they're from Chicago and when I meet them, they're living anywhere but Chicago.
Leo: You wouldn't understand.
Leo: You're scared of Babish.
Bartlet: Oh, like you're not.
Leo: No, because we are both men of Chicago.
Bartlet: What is it with people from Chicago that they're so happy to have been born there? I meet so many people who can't wait to tell me they're from Chicago and when I meet them, they're living anywhere but Chicago.
Leo: You wouldn't understand.
— The West Wing 2x19, "Bad Moon Rising"
"Chicago was founded by two guys from New York who said, 'You know, I really like the crime and congestion, but the weather's just not crappy enough.'"
— Paul Reiser
"Hog Butcher for the World, Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat, Player with Railroads and the Nation's Freight Handler; Stormy, husky, brawling, City of the Big Shoulders..."
— Carl Sandburg, "Chicago"
Chicago happened slowly, like a migraine.
The city of "I will." Born in a battle against slough and swale, a land that showed neither promise nor purpose, won with metal, with concrete, with our own hands, hammering, forging and building [...] They say that greatness is not a matter of chance, it's a matter of choice. I say that greatness is not something we can wait for. It's something we achieve. Because we are the city of "I will."
— Mayor Tom Kane, Boss
"Chicago still remains a Mecca of the Midwest — people from both coasts are kind of amazed how good life is in Chicago, and what a good culture we've got. You can have a pretty wonderful artistic life and never leave Chicago."
"I lived in Chicago for three years, and even if they grew up in the super-white, John Hughes parts of Chicago like I did, dipshits from Chicago will always act as if they grew up near Cabrini Green and spent their formative years bootlegging for Al Capone. HE PULLS A KNIFE, YOU PULL A ZIMA."
—Drew Magary
, "Why Your Team Sucks 2014: Chicago Bears"
, "Why Your Team Sucks 2014: Chicago Bears"