Ed Koch

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

— Ed Koch

The very fact that I became mayor in 1977 conveys how you can't figure out what the people will do. Nobody thought…

— Ed Koch

I like to think that I'm one of the few people in public life who write their own material. I write every…

— Ed Koch

Have you ever lived in the suburbs? It's sterile. It's nothing. It's wasting your life, and people do not wish to waste…

— Ed Koch

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

— Ed Koch

Clinton has more important things to worry about. He not only risks being destroyed historically, like Afghanistan's Buddha statues; he also could…

— Ed Koch

When I was first elected I got 50% of the vote in '77 in the general election. In '81 I got 75%.…

— Ed Koch

There was always a love-hate relationship with New York in the rest of the country, but I made them feel more love…

— Ed Koch

To learn something new every day is still exciting!

— Ed Koch

God gave me a very good hand to play over my 88 years. I have no regrets.

— Ed Koch

I don't want to leave Manhattan, even when I'm gone,

— Ed Koch

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

— Ed Koch

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

— Ed Koch

I don’t believe that in our society that we should have guns,

— Ed Koch

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

— Ed Koch

Stereotypes lose their power when the world is found to be more complex than the stereotype would suggest. When we learn that…

— Ed Koch

Many of the self-described "political refugees" who come here make stopovers in other countries on their way to the U.S., in places…

— Ed Koch

I'm not an author, but before I became mayor, I wasn't a mayor.

— Ed Koch

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

— Ed Koch

There's enormous energy required to carry grudges - enormous energy! And I'm getting too old to expend my energy that way, cause…

— Ed Koch

Be different-if you don't have the facts and knowledge required, simply listen. When word gets around that you can listen when others…

— Ed Koch

We should sell them to our worst enemies, the Russians and the Cubans.

— Ed Koch

The Republicans are coming - make nice.

— Ed Koch

I want to come back as me.

— Ed Koch

Whenever I leave Manhattan, I get the bends!

— Ed Koch