once more , i rushed to the library , greeting in passing the two lions of the wise patience , remembering meanwhile a fact so evident that it is usually not even mentioned : new york is an african city , one of the largest in the world , a spanish city , also one of the largest in the world , a jewish city almost larger than the whole of israel , a greek arabic , chinese city , or any nationality you can think of , but it is by no means a real american city .