I want to be a mayor who helped, really helped.

Let's not be overconfident, we still have to count the votes.

Chicago is one city. We shall work as one people for our common good and our common goals.

The third fallacy is that affirmative action doesn't work.

What is so remarkable about the success of affirmative action is that it has been accomplished despite the Justice Department and the policies of the federal government.

Affirmative action works but we're going to need to muster all our political resources if we are to keep it in place.

Chicago has been characterized as the most segregated city in the United States, a city they said could never change.

I am interested in garnering the white vote, and the black vote, and the Latin vote, and the Asian vote, and the business vote, and the labor vote.

I cannot watch the city of Chicago be destroyed by petty politics and bad government.

I have been urged by the earnest pleas of thousands of people to enter this race. Therefore, I hereby declare my candidacy for Mayor of Chicago.

Business as usual will not be accepted by any part of this city.

An ordinary intellect will, by industry and perseverance, often accomplish more than a much superior one, deficient in energy and the power of endurance.

To remain silent is the most useful service that a mediocre speaker can render to the public good.

If you’re not angry, then you’re just stupid, you don’t care. How else can you react when something’s so unfair?

To have opinions is to sell out to youself. To have no opinions is to exist. To have every opinion is to be a poet.

Life's biggest rewards come from the biggest challenges

She would lift her peignoir above her knees and say to her husband: 'Give baby a kiss...'

The fork is the most powerful tool ever placed in our hands.

No-fault guilt: This is when, instead of trying to figure out who's to blame, everyone pays.

I'm not too fond of really cool design. I've got quite kitsch taste really, in things like tableware. I'm quite a sucker for 1930s pressed glass.

When a man ain't got no ideas of his own, he'd ought to be kind o' careful who he borrows 'em from.