I think I have a very good reputation amongst the gay population and among the whole country because I stood up on the issue of gay rights. It is not easy to stand up on that issue when you are single and male in New York City. I did it anyway.

Ed Koch

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.

Ed Koch

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.

Ed Koch

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

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 action be primitive; in foresight, a strategist.

Ed Koch

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

Ed Koch

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.

Ed Koch

The fireworks begin today. Each diploma is a lighted match. Each one of you is a fuse.

Ed Koch

If I were running against Chuck Schumer. I would take every one of his Sunday press releases - and there are 52 for as many years as he's been there - and I would ask, 'How many of the things he said he was proposing became law?' I doubt many.

Ed Koch

Deals are my art form. Other people paint beautifully on canvas or write wonderful poetry. I like making deals, preferably big deals. That's how I get my kicks.

Ed Koch

If I traveled to the end of the rainbow as Dame Fortune did intend, Murphy would be there to tell me the pot's at the other end.

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 I think every person has a limited amount of energy. So I have given up all grudges.

Ed Koch

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

Ed Koch

If you don't like the President, it costs you 90 bucks to fly to Washington to picket. If you don't like the governor, it costs you 60 bucks to fly to Albany to picket. If you don't like me - 90 cents.

Ed Koch

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.

Ed Koch

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

Ed Koch

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

Ed Koch

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.

Ed Koch

When I was first elected I got 50% of the vote in '77 in the general election. In '81 I got 75%. In '85, I got 78%. No mayor has ever gotten that high a vote. So it was not an issue. Except for people who were very hostile to me. They thought they would injure me.

Ed Koch

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

Ed Koch