Quotes by Ed Koch - Page 2 | QuoteForever

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...the mayor should not be advancing a policy that encourages [illegal] immigrants to think of New York City as their safe haven.
Ed Koch / Former United States Representative
New York
Safe Haven
Thinking
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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.
Ed Koch / Former United States Representative
Birthday
Smile
Thank You
Cities
Citizens
Lucky
Wish
Years
Today World I Am
Greatest City
Thank
Wishes
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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.
Ed Koch / Former United States Representative
Me Gay People
Elected
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[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.
Ed Koch / Former United States Representative
New York
Government
Country
Interesting
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I know many writers who first dictate passages, then polish what they have dictated. I speak, then I polish - occasionally I do windows.
Ed Koch / Former United States Representative
Politics
Bedtime
Firsts
Passages
Speak
Politics Know Who
Dictate
Writers
Occasionally
Windows
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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.
Ed Koch / Former United States Representative
Animal
May
People
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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.
Ed Koch / Former United States Representative
Diet
Best Way
Difficult
Mouths
Politician
Way
Weight
Best Food Your
Eat
Close
Watch
Lose
Mouth
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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.
Ed Koch / Former United States Representative
Done
Given
Proud
Years
Life Done My Life
Life My Life End
Coming
Far
Reflect
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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.'
Ed Koch / Former United States Representative
Numbers
Tired
God Myself Me
Throw
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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.
Ed Koch / Former United States Representative
Congress
Enjoyed
Stay
Elected
Too Many People
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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.
Ed Koch / Former United States Representative
War
President
Views
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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.
Ed Koch / Former United States Representative
Brain
Deteriorating
Tomorrow
Good Tomorrow Me
Good Brain Me
Difference
Make A Difference
Pass
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I probably enjoy campaigning more than most other people in public office because I like people and I enjoy going out there and telling people what I've done.
Ed Koch / Former United States Representative
Campaigning
Office
Public Office
Done People More
People Done More
Telling
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Deals are my art form. Other people paint beautifully on canvas or write wonderful poetry. I like making deals, preferably big deals. That's how I get my kicks.
Ed Koch / Former United States Representative
Art
Motivational
Canvas
Deals
Pain
Paint
Wonderful
Art Form
Beautifully
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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.
Ed Koch / Former United States Representative
Allowing
Perceive
Rage
Twelve
Years Ago
Me People Someone
Attacked
Include
Vent
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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.
Ed Koch / Former United States Representative
Government
Exercise
Rights
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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.
Ed Koch / Former United States Representative
Friendly
Media Training
Supportive
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Clinton has more important things to worry about. He not only risks being destroyed historically, like Afghanistan's Buddha statues; he also could end up going to jail.
Ed Koch / Former United States Representative
Afghanistan
Clinton
Destroyed
Important Things
Jail
Risk
Statues
Worry
Historically
Risks
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Jews have always thought that having someone elevated with his head above the grass was not good for the Jews. I never felt that way. I believe that you have to stand up.
Ed Koch / Former United States Representative
Believe
Grass
Way
Good Always Believe
Good Believe I Believe
Above
Good Believe Way
Elevated
Jews
Stand Up
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I said, to be a New Yorker you have to live here for six months, and if at the end of the six months you find you walk faster, talk faster, think faster, you're a New Yorker.
Ed Koch / Former United States Representative
Faster
Months
Said
Six
Six Months
Thinking
Talk
Walk
New Yorker
Yorker
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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.
Ed Koch / Former United States Representative
Running
No Friends
Towns
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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.
Ed Koch / Former United States Representative
Commentary
Enjoy
Public Life
Life Political People
Public
Few People
Word
Material
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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.
Ed Koch / Former United States Representative
Intelligence
Success
Intellectual
Teaching
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I was drafted into the Army when I was 19 and came out at age 22. Most people that I knew didn't think they'd come home alive. I didn't think I would either, so I was happy when I did.
Ed Koch / Former United States Representative
Home
Alive
Army
Thinking
Drafted
Either
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I injured myself politically when I took on Jesse Jackson' in the 1988 presidential campaign. I was too strident. I didn't recognize the emotional tie that he had with all black voters.
Ed Koch / Former United States Representative
Injured
Presidential
Presidential Campaign
Voters
Campaign
Jackson
Jesse Jackson
Recognize
Tie
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Stereotypes lose their power when the world is found to be more complex than the stereotype would suggest. When we learn that individuals do not fit the group stereotype, then it begins to fall apart.
Ed Koch / Former United States Representative
Fall
Fit
Found
Groups
Stereotype
World
More
Then
Apart
Begins
Complex
Group
Individuals
Learn
Lose
Suggest
Than
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If you don't like the President, it costs you 90 bucks to fly to Washington to picket. If you don't like the governor, it costs you 60 bucks to fly to Albany to picket. If you don't like me - 90 cents.
Ed Koch / Former United States Representative
Politics
Albany
Bucks
Cents
President
Costs
Washington
Fly
Governor
Picket
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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.
Ed Koch / Former United States Representative
Don't Care
Homosexual
Population
Heterosexual
Protecting
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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.
Ed Koch / Former United States Representative
Amount
Causes
Energy
Enormous
Given
Thinking
Way
Grudges
Carry
Cause
Expend
Limited
Required
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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.
Ed Koch / Former United States Representative
Firsts
Four
People
Vote
Elected
Entered
Mayor
Poll
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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.
Ed Koch / Former United States Representative
New York
People
Wish
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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.
Ed Koch / Former United States Representative
Courage
Homosexual
Mean
Want
Hope I Am Me
Courage Hope Me
Cruel
Forcing
Putting
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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.
Ed Koch / Former United States Representative
Running
Chuck
Doubt
Law
Release
Sunday
Became
Press
Proposing
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I think I have a very good reputation amongst the gay population and among the whole country because I stood up on the issue of gay rights. It is not easy to stand up on that issue when you are single and male in New York City. I did it anyway.
Ed Koch / Former United States Representative
New York
Easy
Gay
Gay Rights
Good Reputation
New York City
Population
Reputation
Rights
Single
Stand
Male
Among
Anyway
Issue
Stand Up
Stood
York
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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.
Ed Koch / Former United States Representative
Country
Doors
Land
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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.
Ed Koch / Former United States Representative
Believe
Errors
Long
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When I came in, the city was on the edge of bankruptcy. I'm proud of what I did. I built the foundation that mayors after me built upon - particularly Bloomberg. But the foundation was essential because if it hadn't occurred, we would have been another Detroit.
Ed Koch / Former United States Representative
Bankruptcy
Cities
Detroit
Mayors
Proud
Edge
Essential
Occurred
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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.
Ed Koch / Former United States Representative
Firsts
Hostile
Issues
People
Vote
Elected
General Election
Gotten
Injure
Mayor
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There's a nastiness out there that wants to harm me with words. These are my enemies - the ideologues, the populists, the columnists who don't like the fact that I take them on toe-to-toe. What I try to do is tell the truth. It's not the coin of the realm in politics.
Ed Koch / Former United States Representative
Enemy
Harm
Ideologues
Trying
Want
Coin
Enemies
Realm
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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.
Ed Koch / Former United States Representative
Children
Country
Self
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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.
Ed Koch / Former United States Representative
Believe
Care
Rights
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...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?
Ed Koch / Former United States Representative
Government
Country
Immigration
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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.
Ed Koch / Former United States Representative
Uncomfortable
Understood
Ahead
Believed
Matters
Screwed
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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.
Ed Koch / Former United States Representative
Home
Country
People
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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.
Ed Koch / Former United States Representative
Children
Country
Law
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