Home
Authors
Tags
App
Get QuoteDark Inspirational Quotes App
" I never doubted that I would be a good mayor. I never did. "
Ed Koch
Did
Would
Never
Related Quotes:
" 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
Words
Tell
Truth
" You want me to tell me the truth or do you want me to stroke you? "
Ed Koch
You
Want
Truth
" If they don't want to pay for it, they can stop drinking it. "
Ed Koch
Stop
Pay
Drinking
" 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. "
Ed Koch
Think
Pride
Say
" I changed the city of New York. I gave people back their morale. "
Ed Koch
Back
New
City
" In action be primitive; in foresight, a strategist. "
Ed Koch
Primitive
Action
Strategist
" When all are wrong, everyone is right. "
Ed Koch
Wrong
Right
Everyone
" It's a lot more fun being a critic than being the one criticized. "
Ed Koch
Than
More
Critic
" How'm I doing? "
Ed Koch
Doing
" If you listen to Giuliani, it's like nobody did anything to improve the city except him. I'm not part of the history. Bloomberg's not part of the history. It's like, he did it. He's the only one. That's why he's a little crazy. "
Ed Koch
Listen
City
Crazy
" To learn something new every day is still exciting! "
Ed Koch
Learn
Day
Every Day
" You punch me, I punch back. I do not believe it's good for one's self-respect to be a punching bag. "
Ed Koch
Self-Respect
Believe
Me
" 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
My Life
Done
Proud
" 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
God
Myself
Help
" The mere process of growing old together will make the slightest acquaintance seem a bosom friend. "
Ed Koch
Together
Friend
Growing Old
" You don't have to love them. You just have to respect their rights. "
Ed Koch
Rights
You
Them
" 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
Good
Tomorrow
Make A Difference
" 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
Me
Like
Fly
" 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
Me
Thought
Vote
" 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
Canvas
Poetry
People
" 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
Office
People
Done
" The person who is bent on killing you will follow you wherever you are. "
Ed Koch
You
Wherever
Will
" 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
More
Risks
Worry
" 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
People
Thought
Nobody
" I was born at the age of twelve on a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer lot. "
Ed Koch
Born
Twelve
Lot
" 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
First
Know
Windows
" 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
Uncomfortable
Know
City
" 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
Think
Stand Up
New York
" The art of creation is older than the art of killing. "
Ed Koch
Than
Creation
Older
" 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
Edge
City
Me