Manchester is community, it is friendship, family and even ‘r kid’, it has given us women’s rights, Coronation Street and some of the best records in the world. Famous not just for thinking, but doing – from musicians to politicians and activists to artists. We take a look back at some of our favourite quotes which describe our vibrant city in all its glory.
Noel Gallagher, Musician and former Oasis star
“The thing about Manchester is that…it all comes from here.”
Jim McClellan, Journalist
“Manchester’s size makes the social processes more visible. You can see how things are developing. Where they might end is another matter. Perhaps it’ll be the first place to show us whether our new cities work. Manchester, as the Mancs love to tell you, is ahead of the game.”
Taken from: Esquire Magazine, 1998
Roy Walters, Councillor
“What Manchester does today, the world does tomorrow.”
Stuart Maconie, Radio Presenter
“Manchester changed the world’s politics: from vegetarianism to feminism to trade unionism to communism, every upstart notion that ever got ideas above its station, every snotty street-fighter of a radical philosophy, was fostered brawling in Manchester’s streets, mills, pubs, churches and debating halls.”
Elizabeth Gaskell, English novelist, biographer and short story writer
“Ugly, smoky Manchester; dear, busy, earnest, noble-working Manchester.”
Taken From: Libbie Marsh’s Three Eras, 1847
Emmeline Pankhurst, Political Activist
“Manchester is a city which has witnessed a great many stirring episodes, especially of a political character. Generally speaking, its citizens have been liberal in their sentiments, defenders of free speech and liberty of opinion.”
Ian Brown, The Stone Roses frontman
“Manchester’s got everything except a beach.”
Leo Stanley, Artist
“And on the sixth day, God created Manchester.”
Tony Wilson, cofounder of Factory Records and founder of the Hacienda
“Manchester became the centre of the universe. The best drugs. The best clothes. The best women. The best bands. The best club. Suddenly everyone wanted to be from Manchester; and if you were a Manc everyone wanted a part of you. For a big city, Manchester is just small enough.”
Judge Parry, Judge of Manchester Court
“For Manchester is the place where people do things… ‘Don’t talk about what you are going to do, do it.’ That is the Manchester habit. And in the past through the manifestation of this quality the word Manchester became a synonym for energy and freedom and the right to do and to think without shackles.”
Gerald Cumberland (pseudonym for Charles Frederick Kenyon), Author, Journalist and Poet
“I will not praise Manchester. I will agree with you that it rains there every day, that it is the ugliest city in Britain, that it is cocksure and conceited. I will, I say, agree to all this. You may say anything disagreeable you like about Manchester, and I will not care. Nevertheless…I have stayed in Athens, and Athens is a marvellous city; I know my Paris, and Paris is not without fascination; I have been to Cairo, and bazaars of Cairo seemed to me so wonderful that I held my breath as I passed through them. But these places are not Manchester. They are not so glorious as Manchester, not so vital, not so romantic, not so adventurous… But already I have broken my word: I have begun to praise Manchester in my second paragraph. Let me begin a third.”
Taken from: Set Down in Malice, a Book of Reminiscences, 1919
Tony Wilson, cofounder of Factory Records and founder of the Hacienda (again)
“Manchester kids have the best record collections.”
Mark Radcliffe, Radio Broadcaster
“A city that thinks a table is for dancing on.”
Noel Gallagher, musician and former Oasis star
“We like annoying people. It’s a Manchester thing. It’s a trait. We like pissing people off.”
Sir Edward Abbott Parry, British Judge
“For Manchester is the place where people do things. It is good to talk about doing things, but better still to do them. ‘Don’t talk about what you are going to do – do it.’ That is the Manchester habit. And in the past through the manifestation of this quality the word Manchester became a synonym for energy and freedom and the right to do and to think without shackles.”
Taken from: What the Judge Saw: Being Twenty-Five Years in Manchester By One Who Has Done It, 1912
Manchester and its movements will always find its way into the history books, known for our kindness and connection, for being worldly amongst trying times, as Tony Wilson once stated “this is Manchester, we do things differently here.”
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