Most people are in New York because they need evidence —in large quantities— of human expressiveness; and they need it not now and then, but every day. That is what they need. Those who go off to the manageable cities can do without; those who come to New York cannot.
— VIVIAN GORNICK, BRONX-BORN JOURNALIST AND ESSAYISTFROM THE ODD WOMAN AND THE CITY: A MEMOIR (2015)