This is New York

As I'm riding in a packed subway car, trying to avoid looking at others, I notice one of Barnes & Noble's advertisements where they quote famous poets and authors. This one resonates with me and makes me feel understood:

There are roughly three New Yorks. There is, first, the New York of the man or woman who was born here, who takes the city for granted and accepts its size and its turbulence as natural and inevitable. Second, there is the New York of the commuter – the city that is devoured by locusts each day and spat out each night. Third, there is the New York of the person who was born somewhere else and came to New York in quest of something. Of these three trembling cities the greatest is the last – the city of final destination, the city that is a goal. Commuters give the city its tidal restlessness; natives give it solidity and continuity; but the settlers give it passion.

E.B. White, Here is New York