Although Brooklyn is often overlooked thanks to its shinier neighbor, Manhattan, it’s definitely a must-visit place when in New York City. If you need some inspiration for visiting one of the coolest boroughs of New York, you are in the right place!
In this post, I collected all the best quotes about Brooklyn, including famous Brooklyn quotes, hilarious Brooklyn puns, great Boston captions for Instagram, and many more.
Are you interested in reading about the best photo spots in New York City as well? Then make sure to check out my guide to the most Instagrammable places in NYC!
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Best Quotes About Brooklyn
1. “Poor thing. To die and never see Brooklyn.”- Anne Sexton
2. “Brooklyn’s good. Brooklyn’s funky. Brooklyn’s happening.”- Waris Dirie
3. “Everyone who does not live in Berlin lives in Brooklyn now.”- Don DeLillo
4. I’m just a simple kid from Brooklyn who landed into the most enchanted lifestyle imaginable.”- Michael Musto
5. “People from Brooklyn grow up with a certain common sense. If it doesn’t ring true, it’s not true.”- Judy Sheindlin
6. “Even though I grew up as a Sephardic Jew in Brooklyn where we ate Syrian food and went to temple, it was still America.”- Isaac Mizrahi
7. “When I was trekking across Brooklyn, looking for MC battles – and there were plenty of them – I never dreamed I’d be at this podium.”- GZA
8. “Comparing the Brooklyn that I know with Manhattan is like comparing a comfortable and complacent duenna to her more brilliant and neurotic sister.”- Carson McCullers
9. “It meant that she belonged to some place. She was a Brooklyn girl with a Brooklyn name and a Brooklyn accent. She didn’t want to change into a bit of this and a bit of that.”- Betty Smith
10. “Brooklyn was a dream. All the things that happened there just couldn’t happen. It was all dream stuff. Or was it all real and true and was it that she, Francie, was the dreamer?”- Betty Smith
11. “I was raised by a single mother who made a way for me. She used to scrub floors as a domestic worker, put a cleaning rag in her pocketbook and ride the subways in Brooklyn so I would have food on the table. But she taught me as I walked her to the subway that life is about not where you start, but where you’re going. That’s family values.”- Al Sharpton
Best Quotes About Brooklyn Bridge
12. “The Brooklyn Bridge and I grew up together.”- Al Smith
13. “Scientists are people who build the Brooklyn Bridge and then buy it.”- William F. Buckley, Jr.
14. “I would rather be the man who bought the Brooklyn Bridge than the man who sold it.”- Will Rogers
15. “I once started out to walk around the world but ended up in Brooklyn, that Bridge was too much for me.”- Lawrence Ferlinghetti
16. “Brooklyn Bridge, Brooklyn Bridge, It’s two for the show, Brooklyn Bridge, Brooklyn Bridge, For the boats that pass below.”- Darren Hanlon
17. “George Washington Bridge? You throw yourself off the Brooklyn Bridge, traditionally. George Washington Bridge, who does that?”- John Goodman
18. “Spring and fall in New York are the best seasons here to get out and about. I like the little park in Dumbo between the Manhattan and Brooklyn bridge. I like Prospect Park.”- Paul Dano
19. “I remember perfectly my first trip to New York, when I was on the bridge between Brooklyn and Manhattan, when I saw the skyscrapers. It was like an incredible dream.”- Diego Della Valle
20. “Everyone should walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. I did it three days in a row because it was one of the most exhilarating experiences I’ve ever had. The view is breathtaking.”- Seann William Scott
21. “When Charles first saw our child Mary, he said all the proper things for a new father. He looked upon the poor little red thing and blurted, -She’s more beautiful than the Brooklyn Bridge.”- Helen Hayes
Read Also: 77 Stunning Brooklyn Bridge Quotes & Captions for Instagram
Short Brooklyn Quotes
22. “Brooklyn is a very weird borough.”- Keeth Smart
23. “I love Brooklyn; it’s a part of who you are.”- Paul Dano
24. “Brooklyn is kind of my writer’s retreat.”- Tracy K. Smith
25. “Don’t worry about Brooklyn, I continue to flame.”- Jay-Z
26. “Spread love, it’s the Brooklyn way.”- The Notorious B.I.G.
27. “Mentally been many places but I’m Brooklyn’s own.”- Jay-Z
28. “The Brooklyn Dodgers had a no hitter last night.”- Bob Dole
29. “I think of myself as a girl from Brooklyn.”- Barbara Stanwyck
30. “Brooklyn, it’s a great town, a great city. It’s New York.”- Patrick Ewing
31. “Brooklyn was like Philadelphia made better by its proximity to Manhattan.”- Jonathan Franzen
32. “To people from ‘Brooklyn-Brooklyn’ North Brooklyn is really just South Queens.”- Cat Agonis
Short Brooklyn Captions for Instagram
33. “Build bridges not walls.”
34. “Bridges don’t take sides.”
35. “Touched down in Brooklyn.”
36. “The Ha’penny Bridge by night.”
37. “Brooklyn bridge at night looking bright.”
38. “Heaven is a place on the Brooklyn Bridge.”
39. “Keep Calm and Cross the Brooklyn Bridge.”
40. “Make a decision. Cross the Brooklyn Bridge.”
41. “Freezing temperatures in the Brooklyn bridge.”
42. “Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass.”
43. “Love is the bridge between you and everything else.”
44. “The Brooklyn Bridge is no hidden gem. It’s pretty mainstream.”
45. “Trying to be cute somewhere in between Brooklyn and Manhattan.”
Inspirational Brooklyn Sayings
46. “At all events there is in Brooklyn something that makes me feel at home.”- Marianne Moore
47. “Born in Brooklyn, got a place in Manhattan, going back to Brooklyn to escape the madness.”- Jay-Z
48. “Brooklyn is not the easiest place to grow up in, although I wouldn’t change that experience for anything.”- Neil Diamond
49. “Brooklyn was the most wonderful city a man could play in, and the fans there were the most loyal there were.”- Pee Wee Reese
50. “It’s ironic that no matter where I go, I meet people from Brooklyn. I’m proud of that heritage. It’s where I’m from, who I am.”- Howard Schultz
51. “Manhattan is like Beverly Hills. And the soul of New York has moved to Brooklyn, where everything new and exciting seems to be.”- Alec Baldwin
52. “I’m a tough old broad from Brooklyn. I intend to go on acting until I’m ninety, and they won’t need to paste my face with make-up.”- Barbara Stanwyck
53. “I’ve lived most of my life in Manhattan, but as close as Brooklyn is to Manhattan, there are people who live there who have been to Manhattan maybe once or twice.”- Ellen Burstyn
54. “I’m a tough old broad from Brooklyn. Don’t try to make me into something I’m not. If you want someone to tiptoe down the Barkley staircase in crinoline and politely ask where the cattle went, get another girl.”- Barbara Stanwyck
55. “In Brooklyn, it was as though you were in your own little bubble. You were all part of one big, but very close family, and the Dodgers were the main topic of everybody’s conversations and you could sense the affection people had for you. I don’t know that such a thing exists anymore.”- Don Drysdale
Read Also: 95 Incredible New York Captions for Instagram
Brooklyn Love Quotes
56. “It’ll be a great place if they ever finish it.”- O. Henry
57. “Sometimes I feel like my only friend, is the city I live in, is beautiful Brooklyn.”- Mos Def
58. “I was a prosecutor in Brooklyn in the homicide division and then as a senior assistant district attorney.”- Star Jones
59. “I live in Brooklyn, in Williamsburg, so I just like to wander around. Williamsburg’s such a cool little neighborhood community spot.”- Zoe Kravitz
60. “Brooklyn just got that energy to me that’s so hip-hop and so New York City. You know, New York City is the grittiest city in the world.”- Statik Selektah
61. “That’s my favorite place in the world, so far, that I’ve seen. I haven’t travelled much, but I don’t think I’ll find anything to replace Brooklyn.”- Marilyn Monroe
62. “I’ve fallen in love with Brooklyn. I’m going to buy a little house in Brooklyn and live there. I’ll go to the coast only when I have to make a picture.”- Marilyn Monroe
63. “Even with all of its changing, Brooklyn’s architecture still feels like home, the language feels like home. It’s changing so quickly that it’s surprising. It’s surprising still, when someone looks kind of askance to see me walking towards them.”- Jacqueline Woodson
Hilarious Brooklyn Puns
64. “Brooklyn is a Bridge too far.”
65. “Wire we going over the Brooklyn Bridge on foot?”
66. “On the Brooklyn Bridge, you have to steel yourself.”
67. “Crossing the Brooklyn Bridge really takes a toll on you.”
68. “When the Brooklyn Bridge was unveiled it was a dis-Roebling.”
69. “People watching on the Brooklyn Bridge is a thrilling Livestream.”
70. “The perfect outfit to wear on the Brooklyn Bridge? Well, it’s not a jumper!”
71. “Why did they store wine in the Brooklyn Bridge? They thought wine not?”
72. “Don’t surprise me on the Brooklyn Bridge. The suspension is giving me anxiety.”
73. “I love just sitting and looking at the Brooklyn Bridge. It’s my favorite thing on cable.”
Funny Brooklyn Jokes
74. “How does a pirate get to Brooklyn? – Take the R train.”
75. “What do pantyhose and Brooklyn have in common? – Flatbush.”
76. “Who is a Brooklyn dog’s favorite composer? Bach … Bach Bach.”
77. “What do you call an Italian American ghost in Brooklyn? -A gaba-ghoul.”
78. “What do you call four singing sheep in Brooklyn? – A baaabershop quartet.”
79. “A penguin walks into a barbershop in Brooklyn. Barber says, ‘Waddle it, B.’”
80. “I like to be frank and earnest with women. In Brooklyn, I’m Frank and in Chicago I’m Ernest.”
81. “If a one “L” Lama is a priest and a 2 “L” llama is an animal, what is a 3 “L” lama? A fire in Brooklyn.”
82. “Why did a Chinese restaurant in Brooklyn start charging more for its Kung Pao chicken? It was gentry fried.”
83. “When you go to Brooklyn always bring a camera, because there are many things in Brooklyn that you will see, then never see again in your life… Starting with that camera.”
Famous Brooklyn Movie Quotes
84. “Homesickness is like most sicknesses. It will pass.”
85. “Even if the first date is a disaster, I’ll give it another chance.”
86. “The next time you tell me you love me, if there is a next time, I’ll, I’ll say I love you too.”
87. “Try and remember that sometimes it’s nice to meet people who don’t know your auntie.”
88. “There. That’s better. Now you don’t look like you’ve just come in from milking the cows.”
89. “I hope that when I go through the pearly gates, the first sound I hear is you asking me for the bill in that lovely Irish brogue.”
90. “I now see that giddiness is the eighth deadly sin. A giddy girl is every bit as evil as a slothful man, and the noise she makes is a lot worse.”
91. “- Diana: It’s not politics to talk about eye operations.
– Mrs. Kehoe: It is if the eyes belong to a politician.”
92. “- Maurizio: Anyway, they probably weren’t all Irish.
– Frankie Fiorello: They just had red hair and big legs.”
93. “- Sheila: Why didn’t you wear your blue dress?
– Eilis Lacey: Are you asking why I didn’t make more of an effort?”
94. “- Miss McAdam: There is nothing wrong with soap. Soap was good enough for our Lord. I expect.
– Mrs. Kehoe: Well, which brand did he use, Miss McAdam? Does the Bible tell you that?”
95. “- Sheila: You need sunglasses. I read that if you don’t have them on the beach this year people will talk about you.
– Mrs. Kehoe: [Witheringly] And what will they say, exactly, Sheila?
– Dolores: That’s the thing, Mrs Kehoe. You’d never know, because they’d never say it to your face.”
Meaningful Quotes About Brooklyn
96. “I was raised on the streets, in hot, steamy Brooklyn, with stifled air.”- Barbra Streisand
97. “I could do nothing but Brooklyn shows for the rest of my career, and I could die ignorant.”- Anthony Bourdain
98. “Also, I preached to gangs on the streets of Manhattan, Brooklyn and the Bronx – and miracles began to happen.”- David Wilkerson
99. “I have a very resilient Brooklyn personality that allows me to stay thick-skinned and focused on my mission and goals.”- Linda Sarsour
100. “Shooting in Brooklyn is like opening a time capsule. Nothing has changed. Everything looks like it did in the eighties.”- Freddie Prinze Jr.
101. “He’d get lost if he tried to find his way back to New York from her neighborhood. Brooklyn was tricky that way. You had to live there in order to find your way about.”- Betty Smith
102. “Late June in Brooklyn is like the very beginning of a party-when the music is really good, but you know that it’s about to get way better, so you just do a little two-step before the real turn-up starts.”- Ibi Zoboi
103. “I come from nowhere Brooklyn, New York. Williamsburg, Brooklyn. These days Williamsburg is kind of a hip area, but when I grew up there, the taxi drivers wouldn’t even go over the bridge, it was so dangerous.”- Barry Manilow
104. “In Brooklyn, it was as though you were in your own little bubble. You were all part of one big, but very close family, and the Dodgers were the main topic of everybody’s conversations and you could sense the affection people had for you.”- Don Drysdale
Final Thoughts
That’s a wrap! I hope you enjoyed reading these amazing and inspirational Brooklyn quotes and you had a great laugh at all the Brooklyn puns and funny quotes about Brooklyn.
If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment below or send me an email, I always love helping you out! Do you know some other great quotes about Brooklyn? Let me know in the comments!
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