It is difficult to speak adequately or justly of London. It is not a pleasant place; it is not agreeable, or cheerful, or easy, or exempt from reproach. It is only magnificent.

Henry James (1843-1916), The Notebooks of Henry James

London’s like a monster with one hundred arms … as wide as it’s long. It’s noisy. It’s dirty. It’s everything. You’ll see.

Kevin Crossley-Holland (b.1941), Crossing to Paradise, 2006

London’s spiry turrets rise. / Think of its crimes, its cares, its pain, / Then shield me in the woods again.

James Thomson (1914-1953)

London is like a dream come true. As I ramble through it I am haunted by the curious feeling of something half-forgotten, but still dimly remembered, like a reminiscence of some previous state of existence. It is at once familiar and strange.

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

London is a labyrinth, half of stone and half of flesh.

Peter Ackroyd (b.1949), London: The Biography