A biography for Christine Quinnhasn’t been written yet.
“I'm in a position where, if you have the ability, you should use it well. To get things done.”
“Bike lanes - I put that now in the category of things you shouldn't discuss at dinner parties, right? It used to be money and politics and religion. Now, in New York, you should add bike lanes.”
“For better or worse, when you're running for mayor, there's a little bit of a spotlight on you.”
“When I end up yelling, it's not really deliberate. It's usually out of some moment of passion or frustration or real desire to get unstuck.”
“You don't have to have all the answers all the time. But the best thing to know is what you don't know.”
“All I wanted was to be involved in politics and government.”
“Being an activist is about getting things done. It's not about standing around shaking your fist in anger.”
“Congressmember Weiner has shown just a pattern of reckless behavior, an inability to tell the truth, and what New Yorkers deserve is a mayor with a record of delivering for them, of vision, and a level of maturity and responsibility.”
“To get things done, you have to get people together.”
“I understand that not everyone agrees with my perspective on Ray Kelly. But what you gotta look at here is somebody like Bill de Blasio talking out of both sides of his mouth and trying to have it both ways on a really critical issue like stop-and-frisk.”
“Bike lanes are clearly controversial. And one of the problems with bike lanes - and I'm generally a supporter of bike lanes - but one of the problems with bike lanes has been not the concept of them, which I support, but the way the Department of Transportation has implemented them without consultation with communities and community boards.”
“If you don't like me, life goes on, you know what I mean? But I hope you do like me. Because I think that in addition to being pushy, I'm nice.”
“'No one sits Baby in a corner,' one of the best lines in movie history.”
“I just want people to know you can get through stuff. I hope people can see that in what my life has been and where it is going.”
“I have big emotions, and I care deeply about delivering for New Yorkers, and sometimes that means you got to push things forward - and I think New Yorkers know that.”
“Am I pushy? Yep. Do I like taking 'no' for an answer when 'no' means New Yorkers aren't going to get something they need? No. Do I push back and crack some eggs? Absolutely.”
“I want to be a better Chris Quinn. I don't want to be a different Chris Quinn.”
“When you stand up there and do a press conference, it's a very preoccupied moment. You're standing in front of cameras; people are watching you; it's not so easy to be at ease.”
“There will be a moment in life, whether you're forceful or not, where someone will label you something that is negative.”
“The library of my elementary school had this great biography section, and I read all of these paperback biographies until they were dog-eared. The story of Eleanor Roosevelt and Madame Curie and Martin Luther King and George Washington Carver and on and on and on.”