“I’m going to change everything you believe about HUD.”

New York State is upside down and backwards; high taxes and low performance.

I was elected to come to an incredibly dysfunctional capital and make the government work better, and that’s what I’m doing.

Politicians are good listeners. Because if they’re not, they aren’t politicians for very long.

I haven’t lost my head yet.

I am fiscally prudent and socially progressive. I believe in protecting a woman’s right to choose. I believe in marriage equality.

I don’t think anyone would argue with the notion that there have been serious abuses on Wall Street.

People are rightfully upset about Wall Street abuses and excess.

I know how bad Albany is. I know it better than most. I understand why people are angry. I’m angry. The question is going to be, how do you change Albany, what is the plan for change, and then how do you actually get it done?

If I’m breathing in 2016, I’ll be happy.

I believe we need to attract a new generation of the best and brightest to public service and I believe that government can be a source of inspiration, not degradation.

The essential job of government is to facilitate, not frustrate, job development.

A governor can be a very good friend to people. A governor can be a formidable force.

I’ve worked on the urban agenda all my life. All. My. Life.

There is energy and power in a crisis.

If there’s a silver bullet in the battle to recapture Albany, it is the re-engagement of our citizens. This capital has become a physical metaphor for the isolation and alienation of our people.

People go into politics because they want the affirmation, and they want the applause.

Freedom will destroy itself if it is not exercised within some sort of moral framework, somebody of shared beliefs, some spiritual heritage transmitted through the Church, the family, and the school.

Believe in yourself, know that you are great. Keep taking steps forward CHOOSE to run into fate.

No nation was ever so virtuous as each believes itself, and none was ever so wicked as each believes the other.

Darling, look how far you’ve come do you truly believe you are unable to rise from the ashes and grow new wings.

I’m a big believer in winging it. I’m a big believer that you’re never going to find the perfect city travel experience or the perfect meal without a constant willingness to experience a bad one.

She was everything real in a world of make-believe.

It seems to me fundamental dishonesty, and a fundamental treachery to intellectual integrity to hold a belief because you think it’s useful and not because you think it’s true.

You have to believe. Otherwise, it will never happen.