Rudy Giuliani Quotes & Sayings

With the spirit of my administration, New York City is poised for dramatic change. The era of fear has had a long enough reign. — Rudy Giuliani

So I think we're, we're, we're as broad a political party, if not broader than the Democratic Party, just in a different political spectrum. — Rudy Giuliani

One can look at John McCain and say that he's not ready to be commander-in-chief. — Rudy Giuliani

Civilization must stand up and combat the current collapse of governance, the rise of violence, and the spread of chaos and fear in many parts of the world. — Rudy Giuliani

What we can borrow from Ronald Reagan ... is that great sense of optimism. He led by building on the strengths of America, not running America down. — Rudy Giuliani

The Republican Party is a much bigger tent than people give it credit for. We have a lot of what I guess you all call moderate Republicans. — Rudy Giuliani

I haven't seen it. I don't really need Michael Moore to tell me about September 11th. — Rudy Giuliani

In 2012 President Obama didn't go anywhere near African-American communities. Why? Because unemployment was so high there, he didn't want to address it. — Rudy Giuliani

I think that taxes have to exist. They should exist at the lowest possible level, and to the extent that we can, we shouldn't invent more. Maybe that's my experience being mayor of New York City, where we had so many taxes. — Rudy Giuliani

I've campaigned many, many times together with Senator McCain. He's campaigned for me; I've campaigned for him, good friend. — Rudy Giuliani

Rick Perry I have a great fondness for. And what Rick Perry has, like Jeb Bush has, it will be interesting to compare their two records as governor, very close, great economic development, low taxes, all the things we want domestically out of a president. — Rudy Giuliani

No time limit in Iraq; stay until we achieve stability. — Rudy Giuliani

It's time to make America safe again. It's time to make America one again. I know it can be done because I did it by changing New York City from 'the crime capital of America' to - according to the FBI - the safest large city in America. What I did for New York City, Donald Trump will do for America. — Rudy Giuliani

I think that sometimes the most intelligent things that prosecutors do is when they exercise their discretion not to go forward with a case. — Rudy Giuliani

I am open and will continue to be open to ways to limit abortion. What I am not open to is to removing the right. — Rudy Giuliani

I was Mayor of New York during a great Yankees dynasty. I got to preside over the city during four Yankees championships. — Rudy Giuliani

Courage is being afraid, but then doing what you have to do anyway. — Rudy Giuliani

Leaders need to be optimists. Their vision is beyond the present. — Rudy Giuliani

I don't feel like I'm running against them, I feel like I'm running to try to show the American people what I can do and what I can accomplish. — Rudy Giuliani

America is the greatest nation in the history of the world. There's nothing like America. — Rudy Giuliani

Republicans spend too much time on defense. We have to be on offense. We have to point out the truth. President Obama stole seven hundred million dollars from Medicare. Republicans want to preserve Medicare. Obamacare robs from Medicare. — Rudy Giuliani

The worst situation with radiation escaping is if you are downwind from it. You could virtually be on one side and not affected by the radiation. If you're on the other side and you're downwind from it, you are going to be affected. — Rudy Giuliani

If we take back the labor unions, the legitimate businesses, eventually they become just another street gang. Spiritually, psychologically, they've always been just a street gang. — Rudy Giuliani

We want everyone to prepare themselves for the reality that we are not going to be able to recover significant numbers of people. — Rudy Giuliani

My attempt is to try to broaden the base of the Republican Party, to try to bring in people that can agree and that can disagree on that, because I think the issues that we face about terrorism, about our economy, about the growth of our economy are so important that we have to have the biggest outreach possible. — Rudy Giuliani

There's never any guarantee at war. — Rudy Giuliani

I do think you have sort of a general philosophical approach that you want from a justice, and I think a strict constructionist would be probably the way I'd describe it. — Rudy Giuliani

Lincoln made mistakes. Roosevelt made mistakes. Eisenhower made mistakes. The Battle of the Bulge was the biggest intelligence failure in American military history, much bigger than any in Vietnam or now. We didn't know that the Soviets were moving 400,000 or 500,000 troops. We missed it. — Rudy Giuliani

Liberty is ceding a certain amount of your ability to do what you want so that everybody else can live in peace and freedom and respecting the rights of other people. — Rudy Giuliani

You know, in the horror movie you kill the monster, and the hand re-emerges. And if you're not looking, the hand grows back and then the monster's there again. That cannot be allowed to happen. — Rudy Giuliani

You have to keep a strong sense of who you really are - and I have a pretty strong sense of myself. It gets me in trouble when I say this, but I don't think of myself as a politician. I've always tried to be honest when communicating with people. — Rudy Giuliani

Obviously murder and graffiti are two vastly different crimes. But they are part of the same continuum, and a climate that tolerates one is more likely to tolerate the other. — Rudy Giuliani

There are terrible, terrible memories of September 11th, things that I saw, people that I lost, the devastation, the identification of bodies. I mean, all these memories come back to you at different times. And then the other side of it this tremendous response with the firefighters and the police officers saving people, the rescue workers. — Rudy Giuliani

The minute Putin went into Crimea, what Obama should have done is sent 50,000 troops to NATO. He didn't have to engage them, just send them. That puts the fear of God into people. — Rudy Giuliani

As mayor, I used to always feel the important thing is that people respect me, not love me - but it is really much nicer when they love you, too. I'm going to try to keep it that way. — Rudy Giuliani

My father used to say to me, 'Whenever you get into a jam, whenever you get into a crisis or an emergency, become the calmest person in the room and you'll be able to figure your way out of it.' — Rudy Giuliani

The United States is paradise compared to China, Russia, Ecuador and Cuba, with regard to the press. And with regard to secrecy and transparency. — Rudy Giuliani

One of the lessons from Sept. 11 is that America requires a long-term presence in those parts of the world that endanger us. This notion has become controversial, but frankly, the need could not be clearer. — Rudy Giuliani

The attacks of September 11th were intended to break our spirit. Instead we have emerged stronger and more unified. — Rudy Giuliani

I probably saved more black lives as mayor of New York City than any mayor in the history of this city. And I did it by having to use police officers in black areas where there was an astounding amount of crime. If that crime was in white areas, police officers would be in white areas. — Rudy Giuliani

On September 11, 2001, we thought we were going to be attacked many, many times between then and now. We haven't been. I believe we had a president who made the right decision at the right time ... to put us on offense against terrorists. — Rudy Giuliani

No magic formula can completely prepare us for crises in life. However, each choice we make now will impact how we handle those crises in the future. Make your choice count. Dedicate time each day to developing your character. If you do, courage will be there when you need it most. — Rudy Giuliani

It's about time law enforcement got as organized as organized crime. — Rudy Giuliani

As Americans, we're not sure we share values. We're sometimes even afraid to use the word 'values.' We talk about teaching ethics in schools - people say, 'What ethics? Whose ethics? Maybe we can't.' And they confuse that with teaching of religion. — Rudy Giuliani

I can't be the Mayor of L.A. I hate the Dodgers. I'm a Yankee fan. Yankee fans can't ever root for the Dodgers. — Rudy Giuliani

I was pretty successful before Sept. 11 and fully expected that when I left being mayor I would be very successful. — Rudy Giuliani

Aspiring dictators sometimes win elections, and elected leaders sometimes govern badly and threaten their neighbors ... History demonstrates that democracy usually follows good governance, not the reverse. — Rudy Giuliani

The best way to contain China and make it the peaceful rise of China is for us to have an enormously robust navy that is the greatest navy in the world, that can patrol two oceans, that can fight two or three wars, and China will not challenge us because the Chinese are practical. — Rudy Giuliani

I am a free market Republican. I am against subsidies, in most cases. — Rudy Giuliani

Five years from the date of the attack that changed our world, we've come back to remember the valor of those we lost-those who innocently went to work that day and the brave souls who went in after them. We have also come to be ever mindful of the courage of those who grieve for them, and the light that still lives in their hearts. — Rudy Giuliani

When I became mayor of New York City, I had a $2.4 billion deficit. And everybody wanted me to raise taxes. I said, 'If I raise taxes, I'll drive people out of New York City, and then I'll be raising taxes again.' So what I did was I cut expenses by 15 percent. — Rudy Giuliani

Not from my point of view ... [Clinton] want[s] to move toward mandated government medicine, socialized medicine. — Rudy Giuliani

In the 9/11 Commission Report, one of the things they point out is that firefighters saved just about everybody below the fire. I don't think they realize how proud the fire department is of that. Because, conceivably, that's all they could have done. They could not have gotten above that fire. — Rudy Giuliani

We have to be on offense against terrorists, that we have to make it bipartisan, that it isn't about being a Democrat or a Republican. It's about being an American. — Rudy Giuliani

There are many qualities that make a great leader. But having strong beliefs, being able to stick with them through popular and unpopular times, is the most important characteristic of a great leader. — Rudy Giuliani

America needs to be defended. We need missile defense to better police the skies over the United States. — Rudy Giuliani

I want the people of New York to be an example to the rest of the country, and the rest of the world, that terrorism can't stop us. — Rudy Giuliani

More trade with Qatar & emirates is good against terrorism. — Rudy Giuliani

You never agree with any one candidate 100 percent. I don't agree with myself 100 percent. — Rudy Giuliani

I don't invest in the stock market. I did it a long, long time ago when I was really young, and I got involved in all the investigations and all the prosecutions, and I felt it was better if I didn't make individual investments. So I'm invested in funds, but not in individual - not in individual stocks. — Rudy Giuliani

The nightmare of the Cold War was nuclear weapons in the hands of an irrational person. I don't want to live through that nightmare. — Rudy Giuliani

Immigrants are exactly what America needs. They're what we need economically, and I think they're what we need morally ... [They] revitalize America and get it back to its sense of confidence ... All of these immigrants that come here help us with the work they do, they challenge us with new ideas and new perspectives, and they give us perspective ... — Rudy Giuliani

What children need most are the essentials that grandparents provide in abundance. They give unconditional love, kindness, patience, humor, comfort, lessons in life. And, most importantly, cookies. — Rudy Giuliani

Being mayor of New York was a crisis a week and an emergency every other day. — Rudy Giuliani

Freedom is about authority. Freedom is about the willingness of every single human being to cede to lawful authority a great deal of discretion about what you do. — Rudy Giuliani

It's part of the Constitution. People have the right to bear arms. Then the restrictions of it have to be reasonable and sensible. You can't just remove that right. You've got to regulate, consistent with the Second Amendment. — Rudy Giuliani

My major focus is national security because that's really what the president runs. — Rudy Giuliani

Compassion doesn't weaken leadership, it makes it stronger. — Rudy Giuliani

You know Donald Trump will secure our borders. — Rudy Giuliani

Although I have to leave you as mayor soon, I resume the much more honorable title of citizen of New York, and citizen of the United States. — Rudy Giuliani

Blacks commit murder eight times more per capita than any other group in our society. If I had put all of my police officers on Park Avenue and none in Harlem, thousands and thousands more blacks would've been killed during the eight years that I was mayor. — Rudy Giuliani

I'm not sure if President Obama is an ideologue or a pragmatist. I am hoping and praying he's a pragmatist. — Rudy Giuliani

I think to adequately manage a crisis, you have to see it. Because there's only so much somebody else can tell you about it, and they impose their own distortions on the description. You need to see it yourself. — Rudy Giuliani

We should be tolerant, fair, open, and we should understand the rights that all people have in our society. — Rudy Giuliani

I lived through crises. September 11 is obviously the biggest one that I've lived through. — Rudy Giuliani

The danger to a black child in America is not a white police officer. The danger is another black. — Rudy Giuliani

Freedom is not a concept in which people can do anything they want, be anything they can be. Freedom is about authority. — Rudy Giuliani

I was a Yankee fan in Brooklyn because my father was a Yankee fan. And my father was required to live in Brooklyn with my mother's family, who were all Dodger fans. So he was surrounded by Dodger fans. He was a Yankee fan. So his revenge was to make me a Yankee fan. — Rudy Giuliani

When I said the city would be stronger, I didn't know that. I just hoped it. There are parts of you that say, 'Maybe we're not going to get through this.' You don't listen to them. — Rudy Giuliani

Schools exist in America and have always existed to train responsible citizens of the United States of America. If they don't do that, it's very hard to hold us together as a country, because it's shared values that hold us together. — Rudy Giuliani

To defeat Islamic extremist terrorism, we must put them on defense. If they are at war against us - which they have declared - we must commit ourselves to unconditional victory against them. — Rudy Giuliani

First thing you have to do is say to yourself what can I bring to it, what can I do and how can I make the country better? How can I improve it? — Rudy Giuliani

When we faced a possibility here in New York of chemical and biological attack, three days after September 11, I called in all of the experts, academic experts, Nobel Prize laureates, and doctors who had dealt with anthrax, doctors who had dealt with various forms of chemical and biological attack. — Rudy Giuliani

I think one of the biggest mistakes that America has made - and maybe the world because this is, sort of, the core of communism and socialism - is that you can have perfect solutions to social problems like poverty, like crime. You're not going to eliminate all crime. Maybe you'll never eliminate all poverty. — Rudy Giuliani

Disagrees with neocon adviser on immediate need to bomb Iran. — Rudy Giuliani

My father taught me, in boxing, that when you - particularly when you get hit in the face for the first time - you're going to panic. That instead of panicking, just accept it. Stay calm. And any time anybody hits you, they always leave themselves open to be hit. — Rudy Giuliani

Now we understand much more clearly. why people from all over the world want to come to New York and to America. It's called freedom. — Rudy Giuliani

You believe that you can win the nomination of your party, and then you believe that you're the strongest candidate to win the election for your party. — Rudy Giuliani

I don't think anyone has campaigned much more than I have for Republican candidates, going back to 1998. I mean, I've been in 45 states on behalf of 200 candidates - all Republicans. — Rudy Giuliani

Putting pressure on grand juries to indict in my view is un-American. A grand jury should be allowed to be fair and impartial. They shouldn't have people yelling and screaming. — Rudy Giuliani

The Republican Party would be well advised to get the heck out of people's bedrooms. — Rudy Giuliani

When people endure a traumatic event, they are either defeated or made stronger. On Sept. 11, I told New Yorkers, 'I want you to emerge stronger from this.' My words were partially a hope and partially an observation that people in New York City handle big things better than little things. I could not be more proud of the way my city responded. — Rudy Giuliani

The use of military force against Iran would be very dangerous. It would be very provocative. The only thing worse would be Iran being a nuclear power. — Rudy Giuliani

And if you have a law that isn't working, and you have thousands and thousands and millions of people, then the terrorists hide among them. And we have to have a law that makes sense. — Rudy Giuliani

Did business with Qatar, a US ally which protects al-Qaeda. — Rudy Giuliani

Bonuses balance my budget in New York City. The bigger the bonuses on Wall Street, the more money I had to spend on poor people. The New York City budget is determined greatly by the bonuses given on Wall Street. — Rudy Giuliani

In choosing Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate, John McCain has chosen for the future. — Rudy Giuliani

We have too many politicians who are poll-driven to excess. Polls are important. You've got to know what the public is thinking, but you can't let them drive you completely. — Rudy Giuliani

The past is what we have to learn about how to direct America to the future. — Rudy Giuliani

The only time the private parts of someone's life are relevant is when they're affecting public performance. And just because someone is a public person doesn't mean that any part of his or her private life is open to scrutiny. If someone is doing his or her job, you have to have enough empathy to understand that we all have personal problems. — Rudy Giuliani