But I am committed to keeping this city a strong and viable center for commerce and industry, for continuing to make it a place of opportunity for its citizens.

Be assured that I did not become the Mayor of Chicago to preside over its decline.

If we are to succeed, we must recognize that the community redevelopment is not solely the rehabilitation of housing, or putting a mall in the business strips.

The Chicago Symphony is considered the greatest orchestra in the world.

Our universities and museums are respected around the country.

Politics never takes a holiday in Chicago.

I accept that responsibility and ask only that I be judged by my performance as its chief executive.

The nation can no longer afford to continue policies that hasten the flight of persons to the distant suburbs.

City employees will be hired and promoted because of their abilities - without outside interference.

Tonight - by taking this solemn oath - I am no longer a private citizen but the Mayor of the City of Chicago.

In the days and months I spent walking through the various communities of this city, I found that Chicago did not work for everyone, however.

I have learned that the harder you fall…the higher you bounce!

Good is not good where better is expected.

We will live to see the day that St. Patrick's Cathedral is a child-care center and the pope is no longer a disgrace to the skirt that he has on.

A musical takes two to five years. You have to love it to put in the years.

Personally, I am a great believer in bed, in constantly keeping horizontal...the heart and everything else go slower, and the whole system is refreshed.

Today is much more an age of greed

To find a cause that's larger than yourself and then to give your life to it.

My imagination makes me human and makes me a fool; it gives me all the world, and exiles me from it.

A stand-up comedian will never be the life of a party. Instead, he will be the guy who is standing at a corner and observing people.

I do my stuff, my "mixtapes," as you say. We just need time to capture. After that, I do not know what he thinks, but for me, it is time to get things together.