David Dinkins



David Norman Dinkins (July 10, 1927 - November 23, 2020) was an American politician, lawyer, and author who served as the 106th Mayor of New York City from 1990 to 1993, becoming the first African American to hold the office.

Quotes

 * I haven't committed a crime. What I did was fail to comply with the law.
 * quoted by By Rudolf Melik in The Rise of the Project Workforce: Managing People and Projects in a Flat World (Page 57).


 * You can be anything you want to be. You can be a street sweeper, if you want. Just be the best blasted street sweeper you can be . . . And, you know you can be mayor.
 * quoted by Book of African-American Quotations (Page 47).


 * We borrowed money, it helped us with bonds and what not, and the Federal Government backed it, but it was a guarantee, it was not a grant. And we not only paid it off, but we paid it off ahead of time.
 * On The Fiscal Crisis Of The 1970s. Quoted in an interview by PBS


 * 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.
 * On New York as the capital of the world. Quoted in an interview by PBS


 * The art and culture that is New York, communications, finance, all these things help make up New York. The rest of the country should be happy that we are what we are.
 * On New York as the capital of the world. Quoted in an interview by PBS


 * 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.
 * On The Fiscal Crisis Of The 1970s. Quoted in an interview by PBS

Quotes about David Dinkins

 * I hope people who should have known better then, understand now that Giuliani succeeding Dinkins was an outcome of similar forces that led to Trump succeeding Obama.
 * Adam Serwer, 11/24/2020 on Twitter