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
In a neighborhood, as in life, a clean bandage is much, much better than a raw or festering wound. – Ed Koch
I know many writers who first dictate passages, then polish what they have dictated. I speak, then I polish – occasionally I do windows. – 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 I would be elected. When I entered I got four percent of the vote in the first poll, four percent. – Ed Koch
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. – Ed Koch
I’m confident President Obama will continue his unambiguous commitment to the Jewish state in his second term. – 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
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. – 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
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. – 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
I injured myself politically when I took on Jesse Jackson’ in the 1988 presidential campaign. I was too strident. I didn’t recognize the emotional tie that he had with all black voters. – Ed Koch
Water, water, everywhere, Atlantic and Pacific. But New York City’s got them beat, Our aqua is terrific! – Ed Koch