I cannot sell my soul in order to participate with Nancy Pelosi or Carole Migden or any of them. I can't do it.

My progressive ideals are screaming in [Straight to the Heart: Political Cantos] book; what I believe. There is no muddying-up because of debate. You know exactly where I stand, because I put it down in the written word.

We need to consider that only a small amount of the public vote for the mayor of a city. It's because they are disgusted and don't trust the government.

I think the book [Straight to the Heart: Political Cantos] has meaning for any large city with urban problems. There are political machines in a lot of large cities, and everywhere the goals of society get lost.

I would suggest that people do need to trust someone, to think they care about you. I believe that in my heart.

[After her 18-day disappearance in 1974:] I love my husband very, very much, but he didn't ask me when he ran for mayor and he didn't consult me about running for governor. It would be nice to be asked. ... You know, I've been my mother's daughter, my father's daughter, the wife of my husband, the mother of my six children, and grandmother to my eleven grandchildren, but I have never been me. But I am now because I went away. I am a changed woman.

My success has been based on the issues. It's easy to fight for mental health or needle exchange or small businesses or whatever, because the machine can't interfere.