Christine Quinn

Bike lanes - I put that now in the category of things you shouldn't discuss at dinner parties, right? It used to be money and politics and religion. Now, in New York, you should add bike lanes.

It would be thrilling, obviously, to be able to have a woman and an openly LGBT person as the mayor of New York City.

I come as one package deal. An Irish lesbian who wakes up every day and goes to work. And I don't spend a lot of time thinking about being 'the first this' or 'the first that' because it would take up space in my brain.

To get things done, you have to get people together.

Consensus doesn't happen by magic... You have to drive to it.

I know New Yorkers are gonna vote for a candidate - me - who has the longest record of delivering for them. They want a mayor who can deliver for them. And I'm the only one - I don't care who gets in - who has that record.

You don't have to have all the answers all the time. But the best thing to know is what you don't know.

I'm just not gonna let up until I know I've done absolutely everything I can for New Yorkers.

I'm tough, and you know what? New Yorkers deserve that. They work head, they fight it out, they slug it out. And they deserve a mayor or a speaker who's going to do the same.

At the end of the day, somebody someday is going to say something about you. At least you can look back and say you lived the way you wanted to.

There will be a moment in life, whether you're forceful or not, where someone will label you something that is negative.

You might as well go through life the way you want to. If what you want is to be engaged and forceful, to 'lean in,' well, do that.

I think 'having it all' is a phrase I don't particularly like. You need to have what you want. 'All' seems to me to be an imposed list, an imposed definition by society of what 'all' is supposed to be.

When you stand up there and do a press conference, it's a very preoccupied moment. You're standing in front of cameras; people are watching you; it's not so easy to be at ease.

I'm an aggressive woman who gets things done, and that's the way it is, and I've never been embarrassed about the fact that I am pushy.

At times, you need to be forceful to get things that are stuck unstuck.

I really believe, when you come out of hiding, in whatever way you're hiding, you get to go out into the sunlight.

I'm in a position where, if you have the ability, you should use it well. To get things done.

I've already begun to put pilot programs in place that give CUNY grads opportunities to get good tech jobs. We should expand on that so that New Yorkers are getting those jobs, because those jobs are probably one of the biggest 21st Century pathways into the middle class.

I think it's really important to realize that small businesses are often the portal for immigrants into the New York City economy.