The truth is, that in London it is always a sickly season. Nobody is healthy in London, nobody can be.

Jane Austen (1775-1817), Emma

Yes, London. You know, fish, chips, cup o tea, bad food, worse weather, Mary-f**king-Poppins. London!

Dennis Farina (1944-2013)

I don’t know what London’s coming to — the higher the buildings the lower the morals.

Noël Coward (1899-1973), Collected Sketches and Lyrics, 1931

London, London, London town / You can toughen up or get thrown around.

Kano (b.1985)

A mighty mass of brick, and smoke, and shipping, / Dirty and dusty, but as wide as eye / Could reach, with here and there a sail just skipping / In sight, then lost amidst the forestry / Of masts; a wilderness of steeples peeping / On tiptoe through their sea-coal canopy; / A huge, dun cupola, like a foolscap crown / On a fool’s head – and there is London Town.

Lord Byron (1788-1824)