Two Cities

"Such a healthy, simple, approving glance, as if he were saying to himself: 'Ah, spring is coming!' And God knows, when spring comes to Paris the humblest mortal alive must feel that he dwells in paradise. But it was not only this - it was the intimacy with which his eye rested upon the scene. It was his Paris. A man does not need to be rich, nor even a citizen, to feel this way about Paris. Paris is filled with poor people - the proudest and filthiest lot of beggars that ever walked the earth, it seems to me. And yet they give the illusion of being at home. It is that which distinguishes the Parisian from all other metropolitan souls. When I think of New York I have a very different feeling. New York makes even a rich man feel his unimportance. New York is cold, glittering, malign. The buildings dominate. There is a sort of atomic frenzy to the activity going on; the more furious the pace, the more diminished the spirit."
-- Henry Miller from Tropic of Cancer
I will let you know if Miller's descriptions from 1934 are accurate after my trip to New York in December. While I agree with the Paris one, so far I think Miller is a little bit of an insane writer, pretty intense guy.