Zitat des Tages von Ed Koch:
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.
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.
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 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.
You don't have to love them. You just have to respect their rights.
We're in the hands of the state legislature and God, but at the moment, the state legislature has more to say than God.
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.
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.
If they don't want to pay for it, they can stop drinking it.
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.
The person who is bent on killing you will follow you wherever you are.
The art of creation is older than the art of killing.
The fireworks begin today. Each diploma is a lighted match. Each one of you is a fuse.
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.
Maybe he just looks good compared to the bores he's running against.
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.
In action be primitive; in foresight, a strategist.
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.
The knife of corruption endangered the life of New York City. The scalpel of the law is making us well again.
If you seek violence, we will seek to put you in jail.
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 know many writers who first dictate passages, then polish what they have dictated. I speak, then I polish - occasionally I do windows.
When all are wrong, everyone is right.
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.
Water, water, everywhere, Atlantic and Pacific. But New York City's got them beat, Our aqua is terrific!
You punch me, I punch back. I do not believe it's good for one's self-respect to be a punching bag.
The mere process of growing old together will make the slightest acquaintance seem a bosom friend.
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.
To learn something new every day is still exciting!
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.'
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.
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.
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.
I don't believe that in our society that we should have guns.
Have you ever lived in the suburbs? It's sterile. It's nothing. It's wasting your life.
