"In 2077 they voted my city the worst place to live in America. Main issues? Sky high rate of violence, and more people living below the poverty line than anywhere else. Can't deny it, it's all true - but everybody still wants to live here. This city's always got a promise for you. Might be a lie, an illusion... But it's there, just around the corner... And it keeps you going. It's a city of dreams... And I'm a big dreamer."
— V, Cyberpunk 2077
"Hello there, Night City! Stanley here with ya, and we got another day ahead of us in this city of dreams! Oh, I love this town! Love it like you might love a mother who popped you out on the steps of an orphanage once, and now stops you to ask if you got a smoke for her! Every day means hundreds of new arrivals, but only half of these gonks'll survive a year, and that's if it's a good one! And why do these peeps come to NC? Well, to be Street Samurai like Morgan Blackhand and Weyland Boa Boa! The greater the risk, the bigger the bounty, kids!...or so they say! But you can only be a major league player for so long! The faster you live, the faster you burn out, if you don't get a bullet to the brain first! NC's legends, know where you'll find most of 'em? The graveyard! Matters not where you're from! Matters not where you start! What matters here is the walk you walk in Night City — THE CITY OF DREAMS!"
— Stanley Media, Cyberpunk 2077
"In short, I say that as a city we are the school of Hellas; while I doubt if the world can produce a man, who where he has only himself to depend upon, is equal to so many emergencies, and graced by so happy a versatility as the Athenian."
"Why, Sir, you find no man, at all intellectual, who is willing to leave London. No, Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford."
"If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast."
"City of prose and fantasy, of capitalist automatism, its streets a triumph of cubism, its moral philosophy that of the dollar. New York impressed me tremendously because, more than any other city, it is the fullest expression of our modern age."
— Leon Trotsky, My Life, p. 332.
"As one long prepared, and graced with courage,
as is right for you who proved worthy of this kind of city,
go firmly to the window
and listen with deep emotion, but not
with the whining, the pleas of a coward;
listen—your final delectation—to the voices,
to the exquisite music of that strange procession,
and say goodbye to her, to the Alexandria you are losing."
as is right for you who proved worthy of this kind of city,
go firmly to the window
and listen with deep emotion, but not
with the whining, the pleas of a coward;
listen—your final delectation—to the voices,
to the exquisite music of that strange procession,
and say goodbye to her, to the Alexandria you are losing."
— C. P. Cavafy, The God Abandons Antony
April O'Neil: And you guys seem pretty calm about meeting four giant talking turtles. Where are we?
Peter Venkman: New York.
April: Touché.
Peter Venkman: New York.
April: Touché.
"Why do people still move here?"
— Xander Harris, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Young Guard: Get a load of the freak in the long johns.
Old Guard: You haven't been in Gotham long, have you, son?
Old Guard: You haven't been in Gotham long, have you, son?
Eames: Uh, Puss, shouldn't you be guarding San Lorenzo from danger?
Puss: Do not be ridiculous. What could possibly happen in this boring old town?
Eames: Do you even live here?
Puss: Do not be ridiculous. What could possibly happen in this boring old town?
Eames: Do you even live here?
The Adventures of Puss in Boots, "My Fair Demon"
" Life is like a hurricane, here in... Duckberg."
—DuckTales (1987) and DuckTales (2017) intro
"Many travelers find themselves in Inkopolis Square at some point in their journey. Youth from far-flung seas gather in this colorful hub of comings, goings, meetings, and farewells."
— Sunken Scroll 7, Splatoon 2
"We're going to Baldur's Gate! The city of one-in-a-million chances, splendour and squalor! Anything could happen!"
— Astarion, Baldur's Gate III
"Wonderful, isn't it? Toril's history is written within our city's walls. Expeditions to the continent of Maztica gather in the harbour. The Church of Gond displays its most priceless treasures in the High House of Wonders. Voices raised in song on Returning Day; the heady wines at the Elfsong. There's truly no place like Baldur's Gate."
— Wyll, Baldur's Gate III
...life changing revelations were always right around the corner. Was today the day one realized their mother had a relationship with a world-famous rockstar? Would one realize the depth of corruption in the music industry? Would one become a superhero? Learn the identity of other superheroes? Be attacked by evil magic bees? Learn the layout of Paris’s sewers?
