Bloomberg Quotes

These endless legal challenges that define elections in New York are a joke in this country, and they are the reason why it is so expensive, or one of the reasons, it's so expensive to run here and why so many people decide not to run. ~ Michael Bloomberg

NEW YORK Climate change is likely to exact enormous costs on U.S. regional economies in the form of lost property, reduced industrial output and more deaths, according to a report backed by three men with vast business experience. The report, released Tuesday, is designed to persuade businesses to factor in the cost of climate change in their long-term decisions and to push for reductions in emissions blamed for heating the planet. It was commissioned by the Risky Business Project, which describes itself as nonpartisan and is chaired by former New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, former Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. and Thomas F. Steyer, a former Bay Area hedge fund manager. ~ Anonymous

The level of analysis that is done when you see laws created, whether it's the city or state or federal level - it's much more horse-trading than analysis. ~ Michael Bloomberg

There are lots of threats to you in the world. There's the threat of a heart attack for genetic reasons. You can't sit there and worry about everything. Get a life. ~ Michael Bloomberg

You know, if it's a three-way race, the public has more choice than if it's a two-way race, and has more choice in a two-way race than a one-way race. ~ Michael Bloomberg

There will be ups, there will be downs, there will be sideways. I can just tell you I have been hired, I have been fired, I have been lauded, I have been vilified. I've said some of the most brilliant things that just by accident appeared on my tongue, and I've said some of the dumbest things that you could imagine. But each day - even the day that I knew I was going to be fired - I looked forward to because I've always believed that tomorrow was going to be the best day of my life. ~ Michael Bloomberg

I'm not going to run for president. No way, no how. ~ Michael Bloomberg

We have an expression in New York City government - "In God we trust, but for everyone else, bring data." It's so easy to pick up a sound byte and say, "Oh, yeah, yeah, I believe that," without really thinking. ~ Michael Bloomberg

I've probably saved more black lives as mayor of New York City than any mayor in New York City with the possible exception of Mike Bloomberg, who was there for 12 years. ~ Rudy Giuliani

Our climate is changing. And while the increase in extreme weather we have experienced in New York City and around the world may or may not be the result of it, the risk that it may be - given the devastation it is wreaking - should be enough to compel all elected leaders to take immediate action. ~ Michael Bloomberg

Many of America's and New York's sons and daughters are around the world fighting for the freedoms that the Statue of Liberty stands for. ~ Michael Bloomberg

In the game of life, when the final buzzer sounds, the only stat you carry with you is the number of assists you made. ~ Michael Bloomberg

My father, a bookkeeper who never earned more than $11,000 a year in his life, sat there, writing out a $25 check to the NAACP. When I asked him why, he said discrimination against anyone is discrimination against us all. And I never forgot that. Indeed, his philanthropy was a gift, not just to that organization, but to me. ~ Michael Bloomberg

I have a bold plan to break from the Bloomberg years, and end the 'Tale of Two Cities' by providing real opportunity to all New Yorkers, no matter where they live. ~ Bill De Blasio

Working collectively and collaboratively is the difference between mediocrity by yourself or success as a team. You have to share the pain and the responsibility and if you do then you will also share in the rewards. ~ Michael Bloomberg

Stop and frisk does not get my vote. ~ Steven Magee

There is no accountability today ... no willingness to focus on big ideas. ~ Michael Bloomberg

Nobody's going to go home for a year and come back. Nobody could ever enforce that. Nobody in their right mind would ever try to do it. ~ Michael Bloomberg

The press really is not doing its job of holding the candidates' feet to the fire. The tough questions are not what are you in favor of, but how are you going to get it through Congress? ~ Michael Bloomberg

Look, we live in a very dangerous world. We know there are people who want to take away our freedoms. New Yorkers probably know that as much if not more than anybody else after the terrible tragedy of 9/11. ~ Michael Bloomberg

Progress really is possible. ~ Michael Bloomberg

The public is mad, frustrated, but what the public wants is progress. ~ Michael Bloomberg

You're entitled to your own opinions, but not your own facts. ~ Michael Bloomberg

We have to remember in that Bloomberg poll, strong Republican support for [Donald ]Trump's proposal, but the country at large - strong opposition to that support. ~ Steve Inskeep

If people are not smoking, they'll probably be drinking more. ~ Michael Bloomberg

In some future America, there could be a plausible Michael Bloomberg path to the Democratic nomination. I would love to read a column by a smart person actually attempting to persuade me of this, using evidence. ~ Alex Pareene

What has changed is that people have stopped working together. ~ Michael Bloomberg

I've always thought if we don't want to enforce laws on the books, we should remove them from the books. But when you have laws, you breed contempt if you don't enforce them. ~ Michael Bloomberg

In 1975, Congress passed a law requiring fuel efficiency standards to double over 10 years, with incremental targets that auto manufacturers were required to meet. That was the responsible approach, and it worked. But since 1985, we've done nothing - even as technology has moved at light speed. ~ Michael Bloomberg

One's a dog-eat-dog world, and the other one's just the opposite. ~ Michael Bloomberg

Nobody should ever mistake and think that our country [USA] is weakened, or that authority is diffuse and unspecified, and that we are vulnerable. ~ Michael Bloomberg

A New York City judge struck down a proposed law to ban sodas larger than 16 ounces. I think Mayor Bloomberg should spend his time trying to improve stuff like education. New York needs a better education system if kids didn't figure out they could get around the 16-ounce soda ban by simply purchasing two 12-ounce sodas. ~ Craig Ferguson

I think one of the great dangers here is going and categorizing anybody from one religion as a terrorist. That's not true ... That would let the terrorists win. That's what they want us to do. ~ Michael Bloomberg

I am what I am and, you know, I'm a very lucky guy. ~ Michael Bloomberg

In New York City, a lot of people think 'the great outdoors' is the area between your front door and a taxi cab. ~ Michael Bloomberg

You have to take away some of tax breaks for the wealthy, and you have to cut back on some entitlements. Because, unless we do all of these things, it just doesn't work. And what's good theater and what's good politics isn't necessarily good economic policy. ~ Michael Bloomberg

The World Trade Center site will forever hold a special place in our city, in our hearts. But we would be untrue to the best part of ourselves and who we are as New Yorkers and Americans if we said no to a mosque in lower Manhattan. ~ Michael Bloomberg

I'm not a Mike Bloomberg billionaire. ~ John Catsimatidis

People use so much more health care when they live longer. ~ Michael Bloomberg

When the Founding Fathers arrived here in Philadelphia to forge a new nation, they didn't come as Democrats or Republicans or to nominate a presidential candidate. They came as patriots who feared party politics. ~ Michael Bloomberg

I don't have a Bloomberg on my desk. I don't care. ~ Seth Klarman

America is the greatest country on Earth - and when people vote with their feet, they come here. ~ Michael Bloomberg

No place epitomizes the American experience and the American spirit more than New York City. ~ Michael Bloomberg

I think we are not serious about attacking the long-term debt problem, and that's one of the things that he's going to have to find a way to get on the agenda. ~ Michael Bloomberg

Like Israel, New York City's history has been defined by immigrants who come in search of freedom and the opportunity to build a better life. And like Israel, New York City has remained a target for terrorists who seek to destroy that freedom ~ Michael Bloomberg

I know that many Irish-born New Yorkers are caught in the trap of our federal immigration policies. If we are going to continue to attract the best and the brightest - and Ireland has more than its fair share - we need to inject some common sense into our immigration laws, and I'm doing my best to make that case in Washington. ~ Michael Bloomberg

If you really believe that you're making a difference and that you can leave a legacy of better schools and jobs and safer streets, why would you not spend the money? The objective is to improve the schools, bring down crime, build affordable housing, clean the streets - not to have a fair fight. ~ Michael Bloomberg

Government by three men in a room has turned New York State into a national symbol of governmental dysfunction. Enough is enough! ~ Michael Bloomberg

You're going to see a million people here who have the courage to come and not let terrorists win, and that's exactly what we should all do. ~ Michael Bloomberg

Government is dysfunctional. ~ Michael Bloomberg

You can't depend on polls. ~ Michael Bloomberg

We have an energy policy - we're transferring our wealth to overseas to a bunch of countries that don't have the same values as us. In some cases, they're using our money to finance terrorism against us. ~ Michael Bloomberg

I think if you look at people, whether in business or government, who haven't had any moral compass, who've just changed to say whatever they thought the popular thing was, in the end they're losers. ~ Michael Bloomberg

The Washington Post speaking out against state legislation that he believed would let businesses deny services to gay, lesbian and transgender people. [Tim] Cook himself came out as gay in the pages of Bloomberg Businessweek. ~ Laura Sydell

Throughout our history each and every generation has expanded upon the freedoms won by their parents and grandparents. Each and every generation has removed some of the barriers to full participation in the American dream. And the next great barrier standing before our generation is the prohibition on marriage for same-sex couples ~ Michael Bloomberg

I've always respected those who tried to change the world for the better, rather than just complain about it. ~ Michael Bloomberg

The truth of the matter is: you can create a great legacy, and inspire others, by giving it to philanthropic organizations. ~ Michael Bloomberg

To a contrarian like me, constant advice not to do something almost always starts me quickly down the risky, unpopular path. ~ Michael Bloomberg

I have two daughters that are the loves of my life and I want to leave them a better world, a better country, a better state and a better city. ~ Michael Bloomberg

I'd be happy to provide advice if anybody asked me no matter who the President is. ~ Michael Bloomberg

I quit smoking in December. I'm really depressed about it. I love smoking, I love fire, I miss lighting cigarettes. I like the whole thing about it, to me it turns into the artist's life, and now people like Bloomberg have made animals out of smokers, and they think that if they stop smoking everyone will live forever. ~ David Lynch

Of the 53 central banks tracked by Bloomberg, 19 have dropped their benchmark interest rates in the past three months. Low rates encourage consumers to borrow and spend, increasing domestic consumption. They also devalue currencies, making exports cheaper. That's good for the countries selling but hard on countries flooded with cheap products. ~ Anonymous

Five years have come, and five years have gone, and still we stand together as one. We come back to this place to remember the heartbreaking anniversary - and each person who died here - those known and unknown to us, whose absence is always with us. ~ Michael Bloomberg

And if I were the president, I'd go out there and I'd emphasize the things I have done, and I'd say, 'Some things haven't worked, and I'm sorry about that, but I keep trying.' And I'm - and I think the president is a very viable candidate, and you're going to have a real horse race here no matter who the Republican nominee is. ~ Michael Bloomberg

What the Democrats have to understand is that while we do need to reform our regulation and we do need more restrictions, it is true that it is capitalism and free enterprise and companies that create jobs and wealth for every American. ~ Michael Bloomberg

If you want to do something for your children and show how much you love them, the single best thing-by far-is to support organizations that will create a better world for them and their children. ~ Michael Bloomberg

I understand the appeal of a businessman president. But Trump's business plan is a disaster in the making. ~ Michael Bloomberg

Our goal here in New York is to ensure that every child who graduates high school is ready to start a career or start college and to dramatically increase the number of students that graduate from college. ~ Michael Bloomberg

The NYPD with the unconditional support of Mayor Michael Bloomberg has stopped-and-frisked more black men than there are black men in New York City. Institutionalized racial discrimination in the United States is alive and well. ~ Chris Hayes

We all must recognize that homeland security funds should be allocated by threat and no other reason. ~ Michael Bloomberg

In a Bloomberg poll, 88% of respondents said that Wall Street bonuses should either be banned outright or taxed at 50%. Just 7% said they should remain an incentive. To put that 7% figure in perspective, 6% of Americans believe the moon landings were a hoax; 7% believe Elvis lives; 24% believe that Barack Obama is a secret Muslim; 41% believe in ESP; and 48% believe in creationism. Americans will believe anything, it seems-except the idea that incentivizing bankers at systemically important institutions to take big risks makes any sense at all. ~ Felix Salmon

Nobody wants a job where they don't have authority to go along with the responsibility. Quite the contrary. The more authority you give people, the better people you can attract, and the harder they're going to work, and the more loyal they are going to be. ~ Michael Bloomberg

Most gun dealers follow the law and run honest businesses. But the statistics show that 1 percent of dealers sell more than half of all illegal guns. Why isn't the federal government going after them? Here's one reason: unlike mayors, members of Congress don't get a phone call in the middle of the night when a cop is shot and killed. They don't deliver the eulogies. ~ Michael Bloomberg

I don't think Michael Bloomberg would say that his greatest skill is delivering the speech. He would say he's more of a nuts-and-bolts mayor-picking up the trash, dealing with the school system. ~ Eliot Spitzer

If you think of all the publicity about the terrible tragedy of Virginia Tech, we have a Virginia Tech in this country every day. It's just spread across 50 states. ~ Michael Bloomberg

You must first be willing to fail - and you must have the courage to go for it anyway. ~ Michael Bloomberg

Well, you have the public not wanting any new spending, you have the Republicans not wanting any new taxes, you have the Democrats not wanting any new spending cuts, you have the markets not wanting any new borrowing, and you have the economists wanting all of the above. And that leads to paralysis. ~ Michael Bloomberg

Would I be the 3rd term of Rudy Giuliani or the 4th term of Mike Bloomberg? It'll be neither. It'll be the first term of Joe Lhota. We're all different. ~ Joe Lhota

Mayors are very different, because mayors can't be on both sides of every issue. Mayors have to take an explicit stance. Just go with your gut and say what you believe, and you'll be fine. If you're not fine, at least you'll like what you see in the mirror. ~ Michael Bloomberg

We can be certain that cities around the world will compete for the jobs that the next revival of the financial services industry will bring. ~ Michael Bloomberg

Progress is not inevitable. It's up to us to create it. ~ Michael Bloomberg

Organizing around a common interest is a fundamental part of democracy. We should no more try to take away the right of individuals to collectively bargain than we should try to take away the right to a secret ballot. ~ Michael Bloomberg

I don't know why people carry guns. Guns kill people. ~ Michael Bloomberg

Government shouldn't tell you whom to marry. ~ Michael Bloomberg

Mike Bloomberg may be a Republican these days. But he has been a Democrat for most of his adult life. ~ Randi Weingarten

I never lie, so if somebody asked me a question, I told them. ~ Michael Bloomberg

When I came into office, people said, 'Billionaire? How do they live? What do they eat? How do they sleep?' Today, they see me on the subway coming uptown. A couple of people say hi, some people smile and nod. Some people just sleep. It's not an issue. ~ Michael Bloomberg

The one thing computers have done is let us make bigger mistakes. We have to be careful not to depend on our machines. ~ Michael Bloomberg

What chance does a five-foot-seven billionaire Jew who's divorced really have of becoming president? ~ Michael Bloomberg

I do not think that anybody should get paid for lousy performance. I've said that for a long time. If you work hard and you do good, you get paid well. ~ Michael Bloomberg

Every one of my positions cuts - out half the country. I'm pro-choice, I'm pro-gay rights, I'm pro-immigration, I'm against guns, I believe in Darwin. ~ Michael Bloomberg

At a certain point, particularly in his third term, Mayor Bloomberg lost touch with the people he was serving. ~ Bill De Blasio

It's no fun to protest on an empty stomach. ~ Michael Bloomberg

On Sept. 11, 2001, thousands of first responders heroically rushed to the scene and saved tens of thousands of lives. More than 400 of those first responders did not make it out alive. In rushing into those burning buildings, not one of them asked, 'What God do you pray to?' What beliefs do you hold?' ~ Michael Bloomberg

With 950 reporters and 79 bureaus, Bloomberg competes to break news with Dow Jones, Reuters and Bridge News along with newspaper Web sites, dozens of smaller Internet sites, and even gossipy chat rooms. ~ Alex Berenson

New York city wasn't yet the post-Giuliani, Bloomberg forever, Disneyland tourist attraction of today, trade-marked and policed to protect the visitors and tourism industry. It was still a place of diversity, where people lived their lives in vibrant communities and intact cultures. Young people could still move to New York City after or instead of high school or college and invent an identity, an art, a life. Times Square was still a bustling center of excitement, with sex work, "adult" movies, a variety of sins on sale, ways to make money for those down on their luck". ~ B. Ruby Rich

There is no business in America that would be prevented from taking results into account when making personnel decisions. ~ Michael Bloomberg

I think that people like Bloomberg, they're complete thugs. No question about it. But on the other hand, it must be said that they are politically savvy. They don't get into those positions of power - in the case of Bloomberg, both economic and political power - by being anybody's fool. ~ Norman Finkelstein

In our democracy, near equality is no equality. Government either treats everyone the same, or it doesn't. And right now it doesn't. ~ Michael Bloomberg

Someone once described the information business as exactly the opposite of sex. When it's good, it's still lousy. ~ Michael Bloomberg