Quotes from Ed Koch

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

In a neighborhood, as in life, a clean bandage is much, much better than a raw or festering wound.

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

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.

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.

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.

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 know many writers who first dictate passages, then polish what they have dictated. I speak, then I polish - occasionally I do windows.

The person who is bent on killing you will follow you wherever you are.

Anybody who suggests that I run for governor is no friend of mine. It's a terrible position, and besides, it requires living in Albany, which is small-town life at its worst.