24 Quotes by William Jefferson

Louisiana is last on the things that we ought to be first on, and first on the things we ought to be last on. We can do better than this,

If these people hadn't been poor and black, they wouldn't have been left in New Orleans in the first place.

I didn't want to have anybody with me, ... I was perfectly happy just by myself but they thought it was too risky. I regret that there was any need to have anybody there.

I was intending to go to my neighborhood for sure if I could get there. I didn't know what the condition was, ... I was curious to know and everybody in my family was curious to know: What was the condition of our house? Was it underwater? Was it looted?

I think it is unrealistic to appropriate $10 billion, $30 billion at a time, ... It's important to talk about the big number up front.

I was worried early on in the process. My hope is that it isn't powerful enough to do the damage it could do if it were open-ended.

People have to have a forum to express themselves. They feel very deeply that there has been an injustice against the African American community. ... There was no way to control it.

I tell folks all the time, I'm glad I was able to start out my life like that, but I'm also glad it's over,

This year we were $50 million short of what we thought we needed for hurricane protection,