David Dinkins Quotes

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.

Today, certain people file for bankruptcy, businesses and individuals, and it no longer has the stigma it once had. Now it's almost considered wise, a way to regroup and come back again.

I went to Israel when the missiles were falling there.

I love kids and I maintain that they are our future, that we adults owe them the ability to achieve their potential and that we don't own this planet. We hold it in trust for them.

Well, I think I am a very, very lucky person. I'm very fortunate.

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

As a matter of fact, even when I finished law school, I had no notion of public service then.

In 1975 I was among a group of blacks who formed the Black Americans in Support of Israel Committee.

But the courts have dismissed the lawsuits against me and Lee Brown.

But I make the observation that no one of us would do things exactly alike.

You can't twist Al Sharpton's arm.

Well, I was about six or seven, and my mother and father separated.

And I tell people I'm in charge of children, children I haven't even met yet.

I love children, and most of my involvement now has to do with children or youth programs.

I finished law school in '56, but I was working two jobs.

The people really are what make New York City great.

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.

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

And, as a matter of fact, I am the chairman of the Amadou Diallo Foundation.