My mother came here to New York. She and my grandmother were domestics, cooking, cleaning for other people.

I went downtown as a lawyer and then I worked in a liquor store at night, as I had done all through law school. And so when I got to the point where I could give up the night job, I joined the political club.

You can be anything you want to be. You can be a street sweeper, if you want. Just be the best blasted street sweeper you can be . . . And, you know you can be mayor.

The art and culture that is New York, communications, finance, all these things help make up New York. The rest of the country should be happy that we are what we are.

I haven't committed a crime. What I did was fail to comply with the law.

There is no point in me worrying about what Bloomberg or Badillo will do.

The people really are what make New York City great.