A flat black bug, that is London.

Paul Verlaine (1844-1898)

Don’t send a poet to London.

Heinrich Heine (1797-1856)

CABBIE (n.) (colloq). Erudite Fellow much given to express anti-Whig opinion who upon exchange of monies will, by Hansom carriage, convey a Person within London’s northern environs.

David Styles (b.1947), Dr. Johnson’s Magnum Opus

The St Lawrence is water, the Mississippi is muddy water, but the Thames is liquid history.

John Elliot Burns (1858-1943)

Dirty old river, must you keep rolling, rolling into the night / People so busy, make me feel dizzy, taxi light shines so bright / But I don’t, need no friends / As long as I gaze on Waterloo Sunset, I am in paradise.

Ray Davies (b.1944), Waterloo Sunset