Quotes by Andrew Cuomo

“I believe we need to attract a new generation of the best and brightest to public service and I believe that government can be a source of inspiration, not degradation.”

“I know how bad Albany is. I know it better than most. I understand why people are angry. I'm angry. The question is going to be, how do you change Albany, what is the plan for change, and then how do you actually get it done?”

“I am against the death penalty.”

“My father was against the death penalty, and that was hard in the Son of Sam summer when fear was driving the desire for the death penalty.”

“The need to understand prescription information can literally be a matter of life and death.”

“I believe public education is the new civil rights battle and I support charter schools.”

“I am fiscally prudent and socially progressive. I believe in protecting a woman's right to choose. I believe in marriage equality.”

“Marriage equality changed life for people.”

“New York State is upside down and backwards high taxes and low performance. The New York State government was at one time a national model. Now, unfortunately, it's a national disgrace. Sometimes, the corruption in Albany could even make Boss Tweed blush.”

“Too often government responds to the whispers of lobbyists before the cries of the people.”

“I am the government.”

“The Declaration of Independence says when government fails, the people have the right to replace it. Well, New York State government has failed and the people have the right, indeed the people have the the people have the obligation, to act.”

“The essential job of government is to facilitate, not frustrate, job development.”

“I'm in politics. I'm in government, so nothing surprises me.”

“I don't know people who don't say, boy the government is working better now.”

“I was elected to come to an incredibly dysfunctional capital and make the government work better, and that's what I'm doing.”

“Ninety percent of the students take the 'preferred lender.' Why? Because that's the nature of the relationship. You trust the school. The school is in a position of authority.”

“People go into politics because they want the affirmation, and they want the applause.”

“If I weren't doing the politics, I wouldn't be doing my job.”

“Very few people go into politics to be reviled.”

“Once you start saying, 'Let's talk political, my own politics, my own aspirations,' it can become not just distracting in that it takes time, but it can become confusing and frustrating, and is this now a political agenda or a governmental agenda.”

“I respect the state workers and I respect their unions, but we simply can't afford to pay benefits and pensions that are out of line with economic reality.”

“I believe discrimination still exists in society and we must fight it in every form.”

“Lesson from Pataki's success is: Use the political moment.”

“There was never a war on poverty. Maybe there was a skirmish on poverty.”

“I believe women still face a glass ceiling that must be shattered.”

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