Brave men are a city's strongest tower of defence.

-Alcaeus
c.600  BC  Attributed.

Once in royal David's city Stood a lowly cattle-shed, Where a mother laid her baby In a manger for his bed. Mary was that mother mild, Jesus Christ her little child.

-Alexander, Cecil Frances
  'Once in Royal David's City'.

There is a green hill far away, Without a city wall, Where the dear Lord was crucified, Who died to save us all.

-Alexander, Cecil Frances
  'There is a Green Hill Far  Away'

   Calm soul of all things! make it mine To feel, amid the city's jar, That there abides a peace of thine, Man did not make, and cannot mar.

-Arnold, Matthew
  Empedocles on Etna and Other Poems,'Lines written in Kensington Garden'.

Beautiful city! so venerable, so lovely, so unravaged by the fierce intellectual life of our century, so serene!†whispering from her towers the last enchantments of the Middle Age† Home of lost causes, and forsaken beliefs, and unpopular names, and impossible loyalties!

-Arnold, Matthew
  Of Oxford. Essays in Criticism First Series, preface.

And that sweet City with her dreaming spires, She needs not June for beauty's heightening.

-Arnold, Matthew
  Of Oxford. New Poems,'Thyrsis', l.19^20.

   Every city has a sex and age which have nothing to do with demography.

-Berger,John Peter
  In The Guardian, 27 Mar.

So the people shouted when the priests blew with the trumpets: and it came to pass, when the people heard thesound of thetrumpet, and the peopleshouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city. 90

-Bible (Old Testament)
Joshua 6:20.

There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the cityof God, theholy place of thetabernacles ofthemost High.God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early.

-Bible (Old Testament)
Psalms 46:4^5.

Great is the L, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness. Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King.

-Bible (Old Testament)
ORDPsalms 48:1^2.

Glorious things are spoken of thee,O city of God.

-Bible (Old Testament)
Psalms 87:3.

Except the L build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the L keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep.

-Bible (Old Testament)
ORDORDPsalms127:1^2.

How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people! how is she become as a widow! she that was great among the nations, and princess among the provinces, how is she become tributary!

-Bible (Old Testament)
Lamentations1:1.

Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

-Bible (NewTestament)
St Matthew 5:14^16.

And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, whenye departoutofthat house orcity, shake off the dust of your feet.

-Bible (NewTestament)
St Matthew10:14.

I am a man which am a Jew of Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city.

-Bible (NewTestament)
Acts of the  Apostles 21:39.

But now theydesirea bettercountry, that is, anheavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.

-Bible (NewTestament)
Hebrews11:16.

Nisi Dominus aedificaverit domum, in vanum laboraverunt qui aedificant eam. Nisi Dominus custodierit civitatem, frustra vigilat qui custodit eam. Unless the Lord has built the house, its builders have laboured in vain.Unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman watches in vain.

-Bible (Vulgate)
Psalm126:1 (Psalm127:1  Authorized Version).

They go to and fro in the evening: they grin like a dog, and run about through the city.

-Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 59:6.

Rome's just a city like anywhere else. Avastly overrated city, I'd say. It trades on belief just as Stratford trades on Shakespeare.

-Wilson
  Inside Mr Enderby, pt.2, ch.1.