By seeing London, I have seen as much of life as the world can show.

Samuel Johnson (1740-1795), As quoted by James Boswell in The Life of Samuel Johnson

Maybe it’s because I’m a Londoner / That I love London so / Maybe it’s because I’m a Londoner / That I think of her wherever I go / I get a funny feeling inside of me / Just walking up and down / Maybe it’s because I’m a Londoner / That I love London town.

Hubert Gregg (1914-2004), Maybe it’s because I’m a Londoner

Oh, I love London Society! I think it has immensely improved. It is entirely composed now of beautiful idiots and brilliant lunatics. Just what Society should be.

Oscar Wilde (1854-1900), An Ideal Husband

I had neither kith nor kin in England, and was therefore as free as air — or as free as an income of eleven shillings and sixpence a day will permit a man to be. Under such circumstances, I naturally gravitated to London, that great cesspool into which all the loungers and idlers of the Empire are irresistibly drained.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930), A Study in Scarlet

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