“London is satisfied, Paris is resigned, but New York is always hopeful”

American writer and satirist Dorothy Parker (1893-1967) loved New York City. Parker wrote in the article “My Home Town” for McCall’s magazine in January 1928:
 
“London is satisfied, Paris is resigned, but New York is always hopeful. Always it believes that something particularly good is about to come off, and it must hurry to meet it. There is excitement ever running its streets. Each day, as you go out, you feel the little nervous quiver that is yours when you sit in a theatre just before the curtain rises. Other places may give you a sweet and soothing sense of level; but in New York there is always the feeling of ‘Something ‘s going to happen.’ It isn’t peace. But, you know, you do get used to peace, and so quickly. And you never get used to New York.”
 
“London is satisfied, Paris is resigned, but New York is always hopeful. Always it believes that something good is about to come off, and it must hurry to meet it”—usually without the word “particularly”—has been included in many collections of quotations about New York City.
   
       
Wikipedia: Dorothy Parker
Dorothy Parker (née Rothschild; August 22, 1893 – June 7, 1967) was an American poet, writer, critic, and satirist based in New York; she was best known for her wit, wisecracks, and eye for 20th-century urban foibles.
 
From a conflicted and unhappy childhood, Parker rose to acclaim, both for her literary works published in such magazines as The New Yorker and as a founding member of the Algonquin Round Table. Following the breakup of the circle, Parker traveled to Hollywood to pursue screenwriting. Her successes there, including two Academy Award nominations, were curtailed when her involvement in left-wing politics resulted in her being placed on the Hollywood blacklist.
 
Dismissive of her own talents, she deplored her reputation as a “wisecracker”. Nevertheless, both her literary output and reputation for sharp wit have endured.
 
15 January 1928, New York (NY) Times, “Current Magazines,” Book Review sec., pg. 24, col. 2:
Dorothy Parker claims New York as her home town, although she admits having been born in New Jersey while her parents were spending the Summer there. In her article, “My Home Town,” in the January McCall’s, Parker tells of a friend, or rather an ex-friend, Mrs. Whittaker, who says repeatedly that she wouldn’t have New York as a gift. That, presumably, is why she and Miss Parker are no longer friends. For Miss Parker loves New York, and when she is away from it for any considerable length of time she longs to go back, and she does go back. Furthermore, she always finds that it is better than she thought it would be. And why? Let Miss Parker answer:
 
I suppose that is the thing about New York. it is always a little more than you had hoped for. Each day there is so definitely a new day. “Now we’ll start all over,” it seems to say every morning, “and come on, let’s hurry like anything.”
 
London is satisfied, Paris is resigned, but New York is always hopeful. Always it believes that something particularly good is about to come off, and it must hurry to meet it. There is excitement ever running its streets. Each day, as you go out, you feel the little nervous quiver that is yours when you sit in a theatre just before the curtain rises. Other places may give you a sweet and soothing sense of level; but in New York there is always the feeling of “Something ‘s going to happen.” It isn’t peace. But, you know, you do get used to peace, and so quickly. And you never get used to New York.
 
And Mrs. Whittaker wouldn’t take it for a gift. As if I’d give it to her!
       
Jazz Hostels   
FRIDAY, 27 JUNE 2014 /  PUBLISHED IN NEW YORK CITY
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15. “London is satisfied, Paris is resigned, but New York is always hopeful. Always it believes that something good is about to come off, and it must hurry to meet it.” ― Dorothy Parker
   
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7) ‘London is satisfied, Paris is resigned, but New York is always hopeful’ – Dorothy Parker
 
Gothamist
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“London is satisfied, Paris is resigned, but New York is always hopeful. Always it believes that something good is about to come off, and it must hurry to meet it.” — Dorothy Parker
     
PureWow
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“London is satisfied, Paris is resigned, but New York is always hopeful. Always it believes that something good is about to come off, and it must hurry to meet it.” – Dorothy Parker
 
Twitter
Fish In Water
@FishInWaterProd
“London is satisfied, Paris is resigned, but New York is always hopeful.  Always it believes that something good is about to come off, and it must hurry to meet it.”
– Dorothy Parker
New York City, 1955
© Elliot Erwitt
12:35 PM - 1 Dec 2018
 
Twitter
HeliNY
@HeliNY_
“London is satisfied, Paris is resigned, but New York is always hopeful. Always it believes that something good is about to come off, and it must hurry to meet it.” – Dorothy Parker. Good morning, New York! Go out and meet something great today https://heliny.com/
11:02 AM - 16 Jan 2019