We borrowed money, it helped us with bonds and what not, and the Federal Government backed it, but it was a guarantee, it was not a grant. And we not only paid it off, but we paid it off ahead of time.

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

Some of us claim that New York City is the capital of the country, indeed the capital of the world. Now, that may be a bit much for those who don't come from New York, but clearly we are an important city for reasons of our cultural advantages.

I'm confident that, were I mayor, I would do some things differently than he has. But I think there's a world of difference between him and his immediate predecessor.

The people really are what make New York City great.

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

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

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

I went to Israel when the missiles were falling there.

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.

Well, I'm not sure, but of one thing I am certain: History judges one differently than contemporary observers, and so I think that as time passes, I hope that not me personally so much, but our administration will be seen for some of the things that we accomplished.

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.

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

So it's a mistake for someone to think that they bailed New York out. They did assist us, for which we are grateful, but it's a mistake to say we bailed New York out by giving them a grant of money to help those poor people who throw it away on welfare.

This is about these particular candidates in this particular year. That's what motivates me.

We borrowed money, it helped us with bonds and what not, and the Federal Government backed it, but it was a guarantee, it was not a grant. And we not only paid it off, but we paid it off ahead of time.

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

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

Children are amazing, and while I go to places like Princeton and Harvard and Yale, and of course I teach at Columbia, NYU, and that's nice and I love students, but the most fun of all are the real little ones, the young ones.

We have not always agreed, but I have said repeatedly and publicly many times that Al Sharpton has never counseled violence, but he gets blamed for a whole lot of that.

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

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

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

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

You can't twist Al Sharpton's arm.

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.

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

Criticism of government finds sanctuary in several portions of the 1st Amendment. It is part of the right of free speech. It embraces freedom of the press.

For a country to have a great writer is like having another government. That's why no regime has ever loved great writers, only minor ones.

This is how psychiatry has functioned-as a kind of property arm of the government, who can put you away if your husband doesn't like you.

I don't like government, it's just that simple.

And while the U.S. can never be 100 percent safe from a future strike, our government is working around the clock on measures to protect the American people.

It was also during my tenure of office that the Japanese Government agreed to the conclusion of a Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and signed it, pursuing a policy in harmony with the avowed desire of the people.

You know why there's a Second Amendment? In case the government fails to follow the first one.

It was an idea we had when Al was in the Senate - to organize and moderate an annual conference that would look at government policy through the lens of the family to help identify ways that the family can be supported and strengthened.

What the F.D.I.C. does is to put the full faith and credit of the United States government behind every savings account in the nation, up to a limit that has changed over the years and stands now at $100,000.

All that a good government aims at... is to add no unnecessary and artificial aid to the force of its own unavoidable consequences, and to abstain from fortifying and accumulating social inequality as a means of increasing political inequalities.

Neither these statesmen nor their constituents sought in any way to use the Government for the interest of themselves or their section, or for the injury of a single member of the Confederacy.

The government must do all it can to help reduce interest rates for business.

The time has come for the American government to recognize the damage that has occurred to our economy, and to take firm action to curtail what I believe is both unfair and illegal foreign competition.

All of us who are convinced that our military needs all the support the government and public will provide are pleased that he will have his chance to do just that.

War is just one more big government program.

The transfer is a monumental occasion as the Iraqi people take control of their government and their future and forge ahead with creating a society governed by the tenets of life, liberty and freedom.

Let's say there are 500 sons and daughters like you in each state. Then we could control the government.

Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth.

A government for the people must depend for its success on the intelligence, the morality, the justice, and the interest of the people themselves.

Until the control of the issue of currency and credit is restored to government and recognized as its most conspicuous and sacred responsibility, all talks of the sovereignty of Parliament and of democracy is idle and futile.

Truth is the glue that holds government together.