Ed Koch Quotes

I'm confident President Obama will continue his unambiguous commitment to the Jewish state in his second term.

Have you ever lived in the suburbs? It's sterile. It's nothing. It's wasting your life.

I have a social life. But I don't discuss it.

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

The best way to lose weight is to close your mouth - something very difficult for a politician. Or watch your food - just watch it, don't eat it.

Whenever I leave Manhattan, I get the bends!

We're in the hands of the state legislature and God, but at the moment, the state legislature has more to say than God.

If you agree with me on 9 out of 12 issues, vote for me. If you agree with me on 12 out of 12 issues, see a psychiatrist.

The fireworks begin today. Each diploma is a lighted match. Each one of you is a fuse.

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 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.

I love being the mayor. I want to be the mayor forever.

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

The person who is bent on killing you will follow you wherever you are.

I enjoyed my stay in the Congress. Most people do not. And too many people who have been elected really don't understand the nature of government.

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.

If I were running against Chuck Schumer. I would take every one of his Sunday press releases - and there are 52 for as many years as he's been there - and I would ask, 'How many of the things he said he was proposing became law?' I doubt many.

The art of creation is older than the art of killing.

You don't have to love them. You just have to respect their rights.

God gave me a very good hand to play over my 88 years. I have no regrets.

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

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 want to come back as me.

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

No, I am not a homosexual. If I were a homosexual, I would hope I would have the courage to say so. What's cruel is that you are forcing me to say I am not a homosexual. This means you are putting homosexuals down. I don't want to do that.

I was born at the age of twelve on a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer lot.

I don't believe that in our society that we should have guns.

My brain is good, but my body is deteriorating. I probably have another two or three years. Or I can pass tomorrow, but it doesn't make a difference to me.

When all are wrong, everyone is right.

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

I'm coming to the end of my life. I do reflect on what I've done for the 85 years that I have been given so far. And I'm proud of what I've done.

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.

The very fact that I became mayor in 1977 conveys how you can't figure out what the people will do. Nobody thought I would be elected. When I entered I got four percent of the vote in the first poll, four percent.

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.

Citizens, thank you for all your birthday wishes. I am 88 years old today and still lucky to live in the greatest city in the world.

If they don't want to pay for it, they can stop drinking it.

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

In a neighborhood, as in life, a clean bandage is much, much better than a raw or festering wound.

I know many writers who first dictate passages, then polish what they have dictated. I speak, then I polish - occasionally I do windows.

There was always a love-hate relationship with New York in the rest of the country, but I made them feel more love than hate.

I was not afraid of the press or the militants. It was uncomfortable, but I was not afraid. With respect to the press, I knew I knew more than they knew about city matters. With respect to the militants, I understood it. I mean, everybody believed in those days that they were being screwed, you know, that somebody was getting ahead of them.

I changed the city of New York. I gave people back their morale.

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.

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.

Water, water, everywhere, Atlantic and Pacific. But New York City's got them beat, Our aqua is terrific!

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

Twelve years ago, if someone attacked me, I wouldn't let them get away with it. I'd take them on. I now perceive my job to include allowing people to vent their rage.

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

The mere process of growing old together will make the slightest acquaintance seem a bosom friend.

There's enormous energy required to carry grudges - enormous energy! And I'm getting too old to expend my energy that way, cause I think every person has a limited amount of energy. So I have given up all grudges.