Ed Koch Quotes

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

People get tired of you. So they decided to throw me out. And so help me God, as the numbers were coming in, I said to myself, 'I'm free at last.'

To learn something new every day is still exciting!

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

You punch me, I punch back. I do not believe it's good for one's self-respect to be a punching bag.

You want me to tell me the truth or do you want me to stroke you?

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.

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

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

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

Tone can be as important as text.

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.

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

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.

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

The Republicans are coming - make nice.

If you seek violence, we will seek to put you in jail.

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

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.

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

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.

I never doubted that I would be a good mayor. I never did.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

I'm not the type to get ulcers. I give them.

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

I want to come back as me.

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

In action be primitive; in foresight, a strategist.

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

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

[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.

It's a lot more fun being a critic than being the one criticized.

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

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

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

If I traveled to the end of the rainbow as Dame Fortune did intend, Murphy would be there to tell me the pot's at the other end.

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

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.

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

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

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

Maybe he just looks good compared to the bores he's running against.

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.

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

When all are wrong, everyone is right.