With our daily lives so full of computers, TVs, mobile phones and iPods it’s hard to imagine a time when the most popular leisure activity was sitting down with a good book and a cup of tea. Trying to ignite the nation’s passion for the written word is World Book Day, which takes place this year on Thursday March 4th.

So, in our bid to honour the great wordsmiths of days gone by, we’ve collected together a few quotes about our favourite city in the world.

The best quotes about London

1) “When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.”
Samuel Johnson

2) “I don’t know what London’s coming to – the higher the buildings the lower the morals”
Noel Coward

3) “I’m leaving because the weather is too good. I hate London when it’s not raining.”
Groucho Marx

4) “Nothing is certain in London but expense.”
William Shenstone

5) It is my belief, Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin than does the smiling and beautiful countryside.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle from Sherlock Holmes in The Copper Beeches

6) “London is the epitome of our times, and the Rome of to-day.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson

7) “I do not think there is anything deserving the name of society to be found out of London.”
William Hazlitt

8 ) “Flowers are as common in the country as people are in London.”
Oscar Wilde

9) “In Paris, you learn wit, in London you learn to crush your social rivals”
Virgil Thomson

10) “Hell is a city much like London – A populous and a smoky city.”
Percy Bysshe Shelley

If you want to take part in World Book Day why not check out our favourite literary events in London!