Ed Koch

“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.'”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“If you seek violence, we will seek to put you in jail.”

“I'm just a simple Jewish boy from the Bronx.”

“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.”

“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.”

“Whenever I leave Manhattan, I get the bends!”

“If they don't want to pay for it, they can stop drinking it.”

“The art of creation is older than the art of killing.”

“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.”

“The Republicans are coming - make nice.”

“I was born at the age of twelve on a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer lot.”

“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.”

“It's a lot more fun being a critic than being the one criticized.”

“Maybe he just looks good compared to the bores he's running against.”