“I believe that every American should have stable, dignified housing; health care; education – that the most very basic needs to sustain modern life should be guaranteed in a moral society.”

The Republicans galvanize their base by inciting a lot of fear; they operate on a lot of mythmaking. So we have to have something compelling. We shouldn’t be afraid to be bold.

I felt like the only way to effectively run for office is if you had access to a lot of wealth, high social influence, a lot of dynastic power, and I knew that I didn’t have any of those things.

Campaigns are so much more expensive than people think they are. Just to keep the lights on is several thousand dollars a month.

Not all Democrats are the same.

I know what it’s like to access the privilege of a ZIP Code but also be born in one that could have destined me to something else.

I knew that our community needed a very clear voice. and I think we deserved representation that rejected lobbyist funds and put our voters and our community first.

Women like me aren’t supposed to run for office.

For me, democratic socialism is about – really, the value for me is that I believe that in a modern, moral, and wealthy society, no person in America should be too poor to live.

I see people like me, who thought someone like me couldn’t be in politics, now are saying, ‘Oh, wait, I don’t need to take money from corporations to run. Maybe I’ll run, too.’

I wake up every day, and I’m a Puerto Rican girl from the Bronx. Every single day.

I don’t think most of Congress understands how economics works.

Capitalism has not always existed in the world and will not always exist in the world.

I wasn’t born to a wealthy or powerful family – mother from Puerto Rico, dad from the South Bronx.

I’m an educator. I’m an organizer.

The only time we create any kind of substantive change is when we reach out to a disaffected electorate and inspire and motivate them to vote.

Rather than think of it as somewhere to run from, the Bronx is somewhere to invest.

A man who believes in freedom will do anything under the sun to acquire, or preserve his freedom.

I once believed love would be burning red.

I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong.

It is hard to fail but it is worse never to have tried to succeed.

If you hire people just because they can do a job, they’ll work for your money. But if you hire people who believe what you believe, they’ll work for you with blood and sweat and tears.

Say what you have to say, not what you ought. Any truth is better than make-believe.

The first step is you have to say that you can.

I always know the ending; that’s where I start.