“I respect the state workers and I respect their unions, but we simply can’t afford to pay benefits and pensions that are out of line with economic reality.”

I did experiment with marijuana when I was a youth.

I’m a Queens boy at the end of the day.

He was the keynote speaker for our better angels.

As my Sicilian grandfather used to say, you get more flies with honey than with vinegar, right?

To be clear no one is above the law.

The time has come to return integrity, performance and dignity to New York and make it the Empire State once again.

I don’t think bonuses are always bad.

The Declaration of Independence says when government fails, the people have the right to replace it. Well, New York State government has failed and the people have the right, indeed the people have the the people have the obligation, to act.

I’m a harsh critic of the status quo.

I’ve been not only articulating the dissatisfaction with Albany, I’ve been acting on it. I’ve been very aggressive in bringing public integrity cases and public corruption cases and bringing cases against sitting legislators

People who assume I want to run for elected office may be dealing from a bad assumption.

I think there’s a lot to learn from Rockefeller on how to pass legislation.

I believe global warming and climate change are real threats to our planet.

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.

What fills us is real, sweet, dopey, funny life.

The only real lawyers are trial lawyers, and trial lawyers try cases to juries.

I’m just a shy and retreating kind of person. Sometimes I get in a real talkative mood – but not very often.

Real men don’t use instructions, son. Besides, this is just the manufacturer’s opinion on how to put this together.

The plane of consistency is the abolition of all metaphor; all that consists is Real.

When I went to jail, reality hit so hard that it took my breath away, took my stance away, took my strength away. I was there buck naked, humiliated, sitting in my own crap and urine – this is a metaphor. My ego had run off. Your ego is the biggest coward.

The real man is one who always finds excuses for others, but never excuses himself.

All of the muscles were gone, so that was a real tough time of rebuilding all of that. But you have a deadline, you have an obligation. You’ve said that you will commit to this part, and I just can’t live with myself for not really giving it as much as I can.