Liverpool - Quotes About Liverpool

Quotes About Liverpool

• "Lyrpole, alias Lyverpoole, a pavid towne, hath but a chapel... The king hath a castelet there, and the Earl of Darbe hath a stone howse there. Irisch merchants cum much thither, as to a good haven... At Lyrpole is smaul custom payed, that causith marchantes to resorte thither. Good marchandis at Lyrpole, and much Irish yarrn that Manchester men do buy there..." – John Leland (antiquary), Itinery, c. 1536–39
• "Liverpoole is one of the wonders of Britain... In a word, there is no town in England, London excepted, that can equal for the fineness of the streets, and the beauty of the buildings." Daniel Defoe – A tour thro' the Whole Island of Great Britain, 1721–26
• "ne of the neatest, best towns I have seen in England." – John Wesley. Journal, 1755
• "I have not come here to be insulted by a set of wretches, every brick in whose infernal town is cemented with an African's blood." Actor George Frederick Cooke (1756–1812) responding to being hissed when he came on stage drunk during a visit to Liverpool.
• "That immense City which stands like another Venice upon the water...where there are riches overflowing and every thing which can delight a man who wishes to see the prosperity of a great community and a great empire... This quondam village, now fit to be the proud capital of any empire in the world, has started up like an enchanted palace even in the memory of living men." Thomas Erskine, 1st Baron Erskine, 1791
• "I have heard of the greatness of Liverpool but the reality far surpasses my expectation" – Prince Albert, speech, 1846
• "Liverpool…has become a wonder of the world. It is the New York of Europe, a world city rather than merely British provincial." – Illustrated London News, 15 May 1886
• "Liverpool is the 'pool of life' " – C.G. Jung, Memories, Dreams, Reflections, 1928
• "The centre is imposing, dignified and darkish, like a city in a rather gloomy Victorian novel...We had now arrived in the heart of the big city, and as usual it was almost a heart of darkness. But it looked like a big city, there was no denying that. Here, emphatically, was the English seaport second only to London. The very weight of stone emphasised that fact. And even if the sun never seems to properly rise over it, I like a big city to proclaim itself a big city at once..." – J.B. Priestley, English Journey, 1934
• "...if Liverpool can get into top gear again there is no limit to the city's potential. The scale and resilience of the buildings and people is amazing – it is a world city, far more so than London and Manchester. It doesn't feel like anywhere else in Lancashire: comparisons always end up overseas – Dublin, or Boston, or Hamburg. The city is tremendous, and so, right up to the First World War, were the abilities of the architects who built over it…… The centre is humane and convenient to walk around in, but never loses its scale. And, in spite of the bombings and the carelessness, it is still full of superb buildings. Fifty years ago it must have outdone anything in England." – Ian Nairn, Britain's Changing Towns, 1967