“There is no section in America half so good to live in as splendid old New England — and there is no city on this continent so lovely and loveable as Boston.’’

— Mark Twain, in 1871.

“This can be a cold place, Boston, and the weather is the least of it. We’re often unwelcoming to outsiders. We have a maddening habit of sniping at insiders. We have equal parts determination and aloofness proudly bred into our native bones like the hunting instincts in a championship dog.’’

— Brian McGrory, in the March 15, 2002 Boston Globe (of which he’s now the editor)