Best Mario Cuomo Quotes & Sayings

You can't ever make serious progress against terrorism unless you deal with Israel. — Mario Cuomo

I have heard the critics. What they are spewing are lies, nothing more. My defense policy calls for an efficient and strong military for our country. We live in dangerous times, but we must remember that we have to defend the United States against dangerous and modern threats. The Cold War is ending. Defense hawks like Senator Nunn need to understand this. — Mario Cuomo

I went to electric razors so I would not have to look at myself in the morning. — Mario Cuomo

In '86 or '87, the welfare lists were at the lowest level in 17 years. Why? Because the economy was the best it was in 17 years. There were jobs. — Mario Cuomo

Barack Obama is probably one of the brightest in terms of sheer intelligence ... also probably the best orator we've ever had as a president. — Mario Cuomo

In matters outside the courtroom, courts have decried differential treatment between print and broadcast media. New York City mayoral candidates Mario Cuomo and Edward Koch tried to exclude selected members of the media in 1977 by limiting access to their campaign headquarters to those who had received invitations. Ruling in American Broadcasting Cos. v. Cuomo, a federal court observed, "once there is a public function, public comment, and participation by some of the media, the First Amendment requires equal access to all of the media or the rights of the First Amendment would no longer be tenable."44
In 1981, a federal court in Georgia struck down a judge's order excluding television crews from a White House press pool. The court said the order violated the press and public's First Amendment right of access to White House events. It felt television coverage "provides a comprehensive visual element and an immediacy, or simultaneous aspect, not found in print — Marjorie Cohn

You want calamities? What about the Ice Age? — Mario Cuomo

Wes Clark is a man of whom you can ask a question, and he will look you directly in the eye, and give you the most truthful and complete answer you can imagine. You will know the absolute truth of the statement as well as the thought process behind the answer. You will have no doubt as to the intellect of the speaker and meaning of the answer to this question ... So you can see, as a politician, he has a lot to learn. — Mario Cuomo

A lot of my stories about the old days, they're delicious and funny. But every time I recall the early days, it's painful. With every anecdote, it's painful because you're summoning up the terribly, terribly difficult life of my parents. And it's painful because I didn't realize at the time how hard it was for them. — Mario Cuomo

I wish I were as good a man as my son is. — Mario Cuomo

A judge can manipulate the law. A smart lawyer can keep a killer out of jail. — Mario Cuomo

At times, Mario Cuomo seemed to have the humility of a Jesuit and the goals of an emperor. — Mike Barnicle

My parents were immigrants. — Mario Cuomo

There's something about rhetorical violence that is ugly and worrying. — Mario Cuomo

We believe in only the government we need, but we insist on all the government we need. — Mario Cuomo

I am a trial lawyer. Matilda says that at dinner on a good day I sound like an affidavit. — Mario Cuomo

I had a chance to go on the Supreme Court of the United States, and my whole family was more disappointed in my deciding not to do that than in my deciding not to run for president - much more. — Mario Cuomo

I will take a draft to the Yankees or to the Mets. A draft for president is not conceivable. — Mario Cuomo

There is a respectable body of economic thought that holds that casino gambling is actually economically regressive to a state and a community. — Mario Cuomo

I am one who believes that the world goes from the slime to the sublime. And you can take Darwin and all your philosophers and all your ontologists, and that's the direction. — Mario Cuomo

The beauty of America is that I don't have to deny my past to affirm my present. No one does. We can love this nation like a parent and still embrace our ancestral home like cherished grandparents. — Mario Cuomo

There are some who ask us to believe that if we want the best of times for ourselves, the fit and the fortunate, then we'll just have to learn to live with the worst of times for millions of other Americans - that we're doomed to be a nation of the lucky and the left-out. I don't believe it. My mother didn't believe it. Your ancestors didn't believe it. And I don't think you should believe it. — Mario Cuomo

The problem is that you can't impose the church's teachings on all Americans as a matter of law. — Mario Cuomo

The values derived from religious belief will not - and should not - be accepted as part of the public morality unless they are shared by the pluralistic community at large, by consensus. — Mario Cuomo

The truth is the justice system does need review, there are troubling questions that need to be answered, law enforcement needs to respect the community and the community needs to respect law enforcement. — Mario Cuomo

Every time I've done something that doesn't feel right, it's ended up not being right. — Mario Cuomo

A shining city is perhaps all the president sees from the portico of the White House and the veranda of his ranch, where everyone seems to be doing well. But there's another part to the shining city. In this part of the city there are more poor than ever, more families in trouble, more and more people who need help but can't find it. — Mario Cuomo

The Mafia is a question every time an Italian raises his head. — Mario Cuomo

In 1962, President Kennedy succeeded in captivating Americans by explaining the advantages of being the first country to reach the moon and the dangers of allowing another nation to beat us there. — Mario Cuomo

Debates are boring. — Mario Cuomo

In this life, you should read everything you can read. Taste everything you can taste. Meet everyone you can meet. Travel everywhere you can travel. Learn everything you can learn. Experience everything you can experience. — Mario Cuomo

Decide exactly what you want to achieve. Do you want to help people, or do you want to be powerful? — Mario Cuomo

I watched a small man with thick calluses on both hands work 15 and 16 hours a day. I saw him once literally bleed from the bottoms of his feet, a man who came here uneducated, alone, unable to speak the language, who taught me all I needed to know about faith and hard work by the simple eloquence of his example. — Mario Cuomo

Mario Cuomo famously said that we campaign in poetry and govern in prose. We also critique the government in poetry - angsty, adolescent poetry, but poetry nonetheless. The — Eliot Nelson

Bill Clinton has done more to help the middle class than any leader in decades. — Mario Cuomo

It's an old story; it's as old as our history. The difference between Democrats and Republicans has always been measured in courage and confidence. The Republicans believe that the wagon train will not make it to the frontier unless some of the old, some of the young, some of the weak, are left behind by the side of the trail. The strong, the strong they tell us, will inherit the land. We Democrats believe in something else. We Democrats believe that we can make it all the way with the whole family intact, and we have more than once. — Mario Cuomo