“It’s really scary or it’s easy to generate fear around an idea or around an -ism when you don’t provide any substance to it.”

Our democracy is designed to speak truth to power.

There is no such thing as talking about class without there being implications of the racial history of the United States. You just can’t do it.

I don’t like having people do little things for me.

We have to have a diversity of age represented in Congress, too.

I was born to a dad who was born in the South Bronx while the Bronx was burning, while landlords were committing arson to their own buildings.

It’s disingenuous to pretend the sources of our money don’t impact the policy we write – you just can’t serve two masters.

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.

Through every generation of the human race there has been a constant war, a war with fear.

I am not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep; I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion.

Fear not, he beckoned them, the proof is there within. Do not look for Him inside, that is not where He abides.

I want to be like the wild; Never afraid to grow.

Fear is such a powerful emotion for humans that when we allow it to take us over, it drives compassion right out of our hearts.

But fear is love that has been convinced that it never belonged.

Look into the mirror and ask yourself is this the life you want or just sacrificing your dreams for fear.

Have the courage to be afraid, because fear is a sign that you care deeply. If you care deeply enough, you will be brave enough.