55 Quotes by David Dinkins

Well, I’m not sure, but of one thing I am certain: History judges one differently than contemporary observers, and so I think that as time passes, I hope that not me personally so much, but our administration will be seen for some of the things that we accomplished.

I love kids and I maintain that they are our future, that we adults owe them the ability to achieve their potential and that we don’t own this planet. We hold it in trust for them.

Some of us claim that New York City is the capital of the country, indeed the capital of the world. Now, that may be a bit much for those who don’t come from New York, but clearly we are an important city for reasons of our cultural advantages.

Children are amazing, and while I go to places like Princeton and Harvard and Yale, and of course I teach at Columbia, NYU, and that’s nice and I love students, but the most fun of all are the real little ones, the young ones.

Today, certain people file for bankruptcy, businesses and individuals, and it no longer has the stigma it once had. Now it’s almost considered wise, a way to regroup and come back again.

Well, I think I am a very, very lucky person. I’m very fortunate.

And I tell people I’m in charge of children, children I haven’t even met yet.

So it’s a mistake for someone to think that they bailed New York out. They did assist us, for which we are grateful, but it’s a mistake to say we bailed New York out by giving them a grant of money to help those poor people who throw it away on welfare.

I finished law school in ’56, but I was working two jobs.