Smiley was soaked to the skin and God as a punishment had removed all taxis from the face of London.

John le Carré (b.1931), Tinker, tailor, soldier, spy

London, with its monotonous and melancholy houses, seems like an inharmonious patchwork, as if pieced together without design. Yet it is lovable in its sprawling confusion.

Joseph Fort Newton (1876-1950), Preaching in London: A Diary of Anglo-American Friendship

Respirator, n. An apparatus fitted over the nose and mouth of an inhabitant of London, whereby to filter the visible universe in its passage to the lungs.

Ambrose Bierce (1843-1914), The Devil’s Dictionary

London’s like one of the flash women at Frisco – fine to look at, cruel as the snow.

Joseph Hatton (1837-1907), Cruel London

So large is the Extent of London, Westminster and Southwark, with their Suburbs and Liberties, that no Coachman nor Porter knows every Place in them.

William I Stow (1696 – 1731), Remarks on London, 1722