I concentrated on a lot of things, so very few people saw me as an education governor, an infrastructure governor. – Mario Cuomo
In 1980, in 1984, millions of middle-class Democrats became Reagan Democrats, and more of them drifted toward the Republicans with Bush in 1988. – Mario Cuomo
9/11 occurs, and you’re going to rebuild, and after awhile, the memory will be there, but there will be something new there, and different, and functioning, and electric. – Mario Cuomo
The price of seeking to force our beliefs on others is that someday they might force their beliefs on us. – Mario Cuomo
The truth is that beginning in the 1970s, the heart of our Democratic party, America’s strong striving middle class, began drifting away from us. – Mario Cuomo
I had a chance to go on the Supreme Court of the United States, and my whole family was more disappointed in my deciding not to do that than in my deciding not to run for president – much more. – Mario Cuomo
David Robinson chose to stay at Navy. He talked about commitment, loyalty and values. I wonder how many of us would choose these virtues rather than the chance of becoming a millionaire, especially if you were a college sophomore when you had to make that choice. – Mario Cuomo
In this life, you should read everything you can read. Taste everything you can taste. Meet everyone you can meet. Travel everywhere you can travel. Learn everything you can learn. Experience everything you can experience. – Mario Cuomo
A lot of my stories about the old days, they’re delicious and funny. But every time I recall the early days, it’s painful. With every anecdote, it’s painful because you’re summoning up the terribly, terribly difficult life of my parents. And it’s painful because I didn’t realize at the time how hard it was for them. – Mario Cuomo
The mugger who is arrested is back on the street before the police officer, but the person mugged may not be back on the street for a long time, if ever. – Mario Cuomo
I am a trial lawyer. Matilda says that at dinner on a good day I sound like an affidavit. – Mario Cuomo
If I made a mistake in terms of running for president, the mistake was not in refusing to run in ’91. – Mario Cuomo
If you can manipulate news, a judge can manipulate the law. A smart lawyer can keep a killer out of jail, a smart accountant can keep a thief from paying taxes, a smart reporter could ruin your reputation- unfairly. – Mario Cuomo
Decide exactly what you want to achieve. Do you want to help people, or do you want to be powerful? – Mario Cuomo
We must get the American public to look past the glitter, beyond the showmanship, to the reality, the hard substance of things. And we’ll do it not so much with speeches that will bring people to their feet as with speeches that bring people to their senses. – Mario Cuomo
The Catholic teaching against murder, for example, is largely the same as our secular laws. But as a law, it obviously has a secular rationale at least as strong as its religious rationale. – Mario Cuomo