Top 98 Quotes & Sayings by Ed Koch - Page 2

When I was first elected I got 50% of the vote in '77 in the general election. In '81 I got 75%. In '85, I got 78%. No mayor has ever gotten that high a vote. So it was not an issue. Except for people who were very hostile to me. They thought they would injure me.

I'm just a simple Jewish boy from the Bronx.

I like to think that I'm one of the few people in public life who write their own material. I write every word. And I really enjoy writing - especially my political commentary.

I'm sure that people who elected me, some of them thought I was gay, some of them thought I wasn't gay, and most of them didn't care.

I think that every Saturday, we ought to say, 'My father's a Jew, my mother was a Jew, and I'm a Jew,' with great pride.

It happens that I'm heterosexual, but I don't care about that. I do care about protecting the rights of 10 percent of our population who are homosexual and who don't have the ability to protect their rights.

If you listen to Giuliani, it's like nobody did anything to improve the city except him. I'm not part of the history. Bloomberg's not part of the history. It's like, he did it. He's the only one. That's why he's a little crazy.

Be different-if you don't have the facts and knowledge required, simply listen. When word gets around that you can listen when others tend to talk, you will be treated as a sage.

I intend to vote for President George W. Bush in the next election, because in my view, he is best able to wage the war against international terrorism.

Carter couldn't elect a dog-catcher.

I'm not an author, but before I became mayor, I wasn't a mayor.

The Chinese describe themselves as political refugees. Many base that claim on China's strict population laws, which allow them to have only one child. But if we accept them as bona fide political refugees for that reason, doesn't it follow that people living in countries where abortion is illegal (such as Ireland and Poland) should also receive political asylum? After all, their country's policy is forcing them to give birth to unwanted children.

I wake up every morning and say to myself, Well, I'm still in New York. Thank you, God.

We should sell them to our worst enemies, the Russians and the Cubans.

I happen to believe that there is nothing wrong with homosexuality. It’s whatever God made you. It happens that I’m heterosexual, but I don’t care about that. I do care about protecting the rights of 10 percent of our population who are homosexual and who don’t have the ability to protect their rights.

Have you ever lived in the suburbs? It's sterile. It's nothing. It's wasting your life, and people do not wish to waste their lives once they've seen New York! This rural American thing - I'm telling you, it's a joke.

Like many others, I'm deeply sympathetic to the huge numbers of people looking to come here today to escape suffering and poverty in their own lands. But as a country, we cannot afford to have a total open-door policy without any restrictions on entry.

Don't tell me this is a difficult problem. If it weren't difficult, it wouldn't be a problem.

If you turn your back on these people, you yourself are an animal. You may be a well-dressed animal, but you are nevertheless an animal.

Anybody who suggests that I run for governor is no friend of mine. It's a terrible position, and besides, it requires living in Albany, which is small-town life at its worst.

Many of the self-described "political refugees" who come here make stopovers in other countries on their way to the U.S., in places where they would be free to have as many children as they want. But they choose to continue on to the U.S. Why? Because it is more economically attractive.

I don't want to leave Manhattan, even when I'm gone.

However, they ignore the fact that the First Amendment is intended to protect only against government sanctions for exercising free speech rights, not private actions.

Should we be rewriting history just to make people feel good? That's not history, that's psychiatry.

Tree killing is arborcide.

I can explain it to you, but I can't comprehend it for you.

It is not possible to remake the world. You can fix parts, but you can't remake the world.

Have confidence in your decisions. Make them expeditiously, and stay with them as long as you believe you are correct no matter what others say. However, when you conclude you were in error, do not hesitate to announce the error publicly and change course.

But enough of me. Lets talk about you. What do you think of me?

The key to success in politics: Never forget, seldom forgive.

[The UN should remain in New York] because every country needs a cesspool. And the UN is always interesting as a theater of the absurd.

Life is indeed precious, and I believe the death penalty helps affirm this fact.

I want to come back as me.

The most guileful amongst the reporters are those who appear friendly and smile and seem to be supportive. They are the ones who will seek to gut you on every occasion.

Unless they can immediately demonstrate a credible fear of persecution, why shouldn't these people be returned at once to the country from which they embarked - whether it be their home country or a stopover point - at the expense of the airline that brought them? All appeals would then be made from the country to which they have been returned.

I probably have another two or three years. Or I can pass tomorrow, but it doesn't make a difference to me.

...what about the millions of poor in this country who desperately need assistance and services to help bring them out of poverty? Shall they go to the back of the line? and shall those who have made a dramatic illegal entry, who would normally not be entitled to government assistance, or even entry itself, be put at the front?

...the mayor should not be advancing a policy that encourages [illegal] immigrants to think of New York City as their safe haven.