Ed Koch

“How'm I doing?”

“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.”

“I'm sure that people who elected me, some of them thought I was gay, some of them thought I wasn't gay, and most of them didn't care.”

“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.”

“I changed the city of New York. I gave people back their morale.”

“The mere process of growing old together will make the slightest acquaintance seem a bosom friend.”

“I'm not the type to get ulcers. I give them.”

“The knife of corruption endangered the life of New York City. The scalpel of the law is making us well again.”

“I don't believe that in our society that we should have guns.”

“You punch me, I punch back. I do not believe it's good for one's self-respect to be a punching bag.”

“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.”

“Have you ever lived in the suburbs? It's sterile. It's nothing. It's wasting your life.”

“I like to think that I'm one of the few people in public life who write their own material. I write every word. And I really enjoy writing - especially my political commentary.”

“You want me to tell me the truth or do you want me to stroke you?”

“You don't have to love them. You just have to respect their rights.”

“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.”

“I never doubted that I would be a good mayor. I never did.”

“Stereotypes lose their power when the world is found to be more complex than the stereotype would suggest. When we learn that individuals do not fit the group stereotype, then it begins to fall apart.”

“I'm confident President Obama will continue his unambiguous commitment to the Jewish state in his second term.”

“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.”