Talker-in-chief: New York politicians have no shortage of memorable quotes

Think Zohran Mamdani is the first New York politician to alliterate? To philosophize? To rouse a bored listener with an obscure pop culture reference? Think again.

New York hasn’t had a political orator quite like Mamdani in years, but we’ve certainly heard plenty of political speeches – some more memorable than others. From Mario Cuomo to the eminently quotable Eric Adams, here are some of the quotes that stick out amid the drudgery of tired clichés and broken metaphors.

Zohran Mamdani, election night speech, November 2025

“I am young, despite my best efforts to grow older. I am Muslim. I am a democratic socialist. And most damning of all, I refuse to apologize for any of this.”

It has repetition, self-deprecation, musical cadence. And most winning of all – a bracing message, delivered bitingly to his critics.

Eric Adams, 100 days address, April 2022

“There are only two types of Americans, those who live in New York and those who wish they could.”

Adams was at his most quotable off-the-cuff, and many of his sound bites, speechwriter Marjorie Sweeney said, came straight from the source. This favorite of his also made it into his 100 days address.

Rudy Giuliani, United Nations General Assembly, October 2001

“Our belief in religious freedom, political freedom, economic freedom – that’s what makes an American. Our belief in democracy, the rule of law and respect for human life – that’s how you become an American.”

When Giuliani became “America’s mayor” after 9/11, he also became an omnipresent communicator – not unlike Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. This line comes from one particularly hope-laden speech at the U.N.

David Dinkins, inaugural address, January 1990

“I see New York as a gorgeous mosaic of race and religious faith, of national origin and sexual orientation, of individuals whose families arrived yesterday and generations ago, coming through Ellis Island or Kennedy Airport or on buses bound for the Port Authority. In that spirit, I offer this fundamental pledge: I intend to be the mayor of all the people of New York.”

Dinkins isn’t remembered widely for his speechmaking, but his vision of New York as a “gorgeous mosaic” has stood the test of time as well as any other line in modern New York history.

Mario Cuomo, Democratic National Convention, July 1984

“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 sound good as with speeches that are good and sound; not so much with speeches that will bring people to their feet as with speeches that will bring people to their senses. We must make the American people hear our ‘Tale of Two Cities.’ We must convince them that we don’t have to settle for two cities, that we can have one city, indivisible, shining for all of its people.”

Regarded as one of New York’s greatest orators, Cuomo’s speeches resonated beyond the Empire State. In his 1984 DNC speech, Cuomo eschewed “the temptation to deal in nice but vague rhetoric” and moved his audience with a stirring emotional argument cloaked in plainspokenness.

Fiorello La Guardia, address at the Hotel Commodore luncheon, September 1937

“There is no Republican way of cleaning streets any more than there is a Democratic way of putting out a fire. There is no Republican way of building parks any more than there is a Democratic way of maintaining and administering hospitals.”

Everyone’s favorite garbage-collecting mayor spoke frankly to New Yorkers during his 12-year term overlapping the Great Depression and World War II.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt, inaugural address, January 1929

“Without the help of thousands of others, any one of us would die, naked and starved. Consider the bread upon our table, the clothes upon our backs, the luxuries that make life pleasant; how many men worked in sunlit fields, in dark mines, in the fierce heat of molten metal, and among the looms and wheels of countless factories, in order to create them for our use and enjoyment.”

It’s no “only thing to fear is fear itself,” but FDR’s New York gubernatorial inauguration had its crystalline moments. Save the allusions to agriculture and manufacturing, it sounds like one that Mamdani could deliver today.

Ed Koch

“If you agree with me on nine out of 12 issues, vote for me. If you agree with me on 12 out of 12, see a psychiatrist.”

Not everyone needs to be an orator. Mayor Ed Koch wasn’t. But he was brilliant and natural off-the-cuff, delivering memorable one-liners and campaign slogans, crafted with the help of adviser David Garth.