Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
All terrorism is theater.
New Yorkers are real gritty and tough.
I'm a nice guy, but people want to kill me.
I like Sicilian food. It's real peasant food.
I like music, a lot of different types of music.
You can't separate the two, being a parent, being a cop.
Consensus building doesn't necessarily fit with my experience.
The stark reality is that crime happens in communities of color.
A small number of people and groups control the Democratic primary.
I think one of the biggest scams in law enforcement is the monitor.
It's dangerous to write people off just because they've been arrested.
If terrorists aren't limited by borders and boundaries, we can't be, either.
I don't watch cop movies much. I TiVo shows. I watch every Larry David show.
A broad base of knowledge is critically important to our ability to investigate terrorism.
David Cohen is without a doubt one of the best - if not the best - public servant I've ever encountered.
I don't stretch enough. I know I should do it more, and I'd like to do yoga, but I just don't have time.
For some, the very act of intelligence gathering seems illegitimate when applied to the crime of terrorism.
If you want to be a cop, it's not for everybody, no question about it, but there's no place like New York City.
Since 9/11, some of the most violent terrorists we've encountered were radicalized or recruited at universities.
I don't think I have the demeanor to be a politician. I'm used to making decisions and to a certain extent being in charge.
It sounds corny, but I never have avoided the challenges - I relish them - I think it's what make me tick, to a certain extent.
As a city, we have to face the reality that New York's minority communities experience a disproportionate share of violent crime.
The federal government is doing less than it is lawfully entitled to do to protect New York City, and the City is less safe as a result.
It doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure out that if you stop or curtail stop-and-frisk, or if cops are reluctant to do it, violent crimes are going to go up.
I think, as a nation, we didn't learn our lessons from the bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993. We should have been more careful in a whole host of areas.
In New York City we have the biggest police force in the country. We have 35,000 uniformed officers. We're able to mass officers in significant numbers if we had to.
I've been the longest-serving police commissioner in the history of the department, but it's time in my life to move on. I'm ready for new adventures, new challenges.
Protecting the city is my job, which doesn't translate into hatred. This is war, and in most wars, professional soldiers don't hate the enemy. Hatred can blind you in ways that mar your judgment.
If you go into any department store these days, your picture is probably taken 30 times. In London there are 500,000 cameras in public spaces. You have no expectation of privacy in public spaces.
I don't think I've become arrogant. I'm pretty much the same person. I think the world has changed. I think I'm pretty consistent. Because you stick to what you believe does not make you arrogant.
I think the American public can accept the fact if you tell them that every time you pick up the phone it's going to be recorded and it goes to the government. I think the public can understand that.
You can be stopped if a police officer reasonably suspects a crime is about to be committed, is being committed or has been committed. Every law enforcement agency does it. It's essential to policing.
I think it's only natural to want to look good. I enjoy good clothes, so 18 years ago I moved to having custom-made suits. They last longer. They fit you better. In my opinion, I think men don't spend enough on clothes.
You have multiple intelligence agencies. They all ultimately report to the director of national intelligence but, you know, it never comes in neat packages. So you have to make judgments on what you have, and it's not easy to do.
New York is safer than it has been - and it's getting safer. But it's never safe. As the financial and communications capital of the world, this is where terrorists want to make a statement, where they get the most bang for the buck.
I liked the military life. They teach you self-sufficiency early on. I always say that I learned most of what I know about leadership in the Marine Corps. Certain basic principles stay with you - sometimes consciously, mostly unconsciously.
The NYPD has too urgent a mission and too few officers for us to waste time and resources on broad, unfocused surveillance. We have a responsibility to protect New Yorkers from violent crime or another terrorist attack - and we uphold the law in doing so.
You're always trying to impress your parents regardless of how old you are. And when they're gone, there's nobody to impress. But I think my parents would be proud of me. My father has been gone for 30 years, and by the time he passed away, I was a lawyer. I hope he would be impressed.
Virtually everything I learned about leadership traits and core values, I learned in the Marine Corps. To this day, I keep a list of the traits in a little black book, 14 of them, including integrity, justice, bearing, enthusiasm, endurance - all indicators you aspire to when you're a leader.
When I had the job of police commissioner, 20 years ago, I was more sensitive, more cognizant of complaints and concerned about public opinion. I've learned to do what I think is the right thing. That lessens the impact of criticism. You get used to a pressurized environment and expect it every day.
No other agency is scrutinized like the police. Everything we do is in a goldfish bowl. We are not the most popular people in society. We do things like use deadly force; we're the bearers of bad news. We're not firefighters, who are viewed as heroic, helping people, with people loving them back. The police have a much more complex and demanding job.
Good news is not news. Bad news sells. Confrontation sells. And that's what the press is always looking for. I'm not bragging, but I have the highest job-approval rating of any public official in the city. And I've had it consistently. The approval rating for the police department is 70 percent. This notion that stop-and-frisk has torn the community apart is false.
I think I've had a long, distinguished career in public service. It just goes to show you what some politicians will do. They'll say or do anything to get elected. I know all these people. They all claimed to be friends of mine up until their mayoral campaigns. They'd call me on the phone and ask for information or come over here and sit in this chair to get briefed.
I never think of the word legacy. It doesn't mean anything. You do the right thing, in my judgment, and things will work out. That's what drives me. I'm not looking for legacy or history books or whatever. I know what we've done here has saved a significant number of lives. The burden is not on me. It's on the politicians who made the decisions to limit what we're doing. They're the ones who are going to pay a price, in my judgment, if crime significantly increases.