"From the moment a New Yorker is confronted with almost any large city of Europe, it is impossible for him to pretend to himself that his own city is anything other than an unscrupulous real-estate speculation"

--

Source : Edmund Wilson (1966). “Europe without Baedeker: sketches among the ruins of Italy, Greece and England, together with, Notes from a European diary, 1963-1964”, Vintage

Edmund Wilson

#Real Quotes #Europe Quotes #Cities Quotes

“Truth is irrelevant. What is relevant is whether or not they believe it." The logic in the words grated. "The first rule of scoundrels?”
“The art of never making a mistake is crucial to motherhood. To be effective and to gain the respect she needs to function, a mother must have her children believe she has never engaged in sex, never made a bad decision, never caused her own mother a moment's anxiety, and was never a child.”
“Trying to describe a good marriage is like trying to describe your adrenal glands. You know they're in there functioning but you don't really understand how they work.”
“A positive attitude goes a long way.Â Focus your energy on the here and now, and see how a happier you shines through.”
“The vain presumption of understanding everything can have no other basis than never having understood anything. For anyone who had ever experienced just once the perfect understanding of one single thing, and had truly tasted how knowledge is accomplished, would recognize that of the infinity of other truths he understands nothing.”
“Well, I realized finally that all of the hard work paid off.”
“A great many people go after success simply for the shiny prizes it brings...And nowhere is it pursued more ardently than in the city of New York.”
“Without struggle, no progress and no result. Every breaking of habit produces a change in the machine.”

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