Koch Quotes & Sayings

I have a social life. But I don't discuss it. — Ed Koch

AESTHETICS OF THE AESTHETICIAN
What is the aesthetician
But a mule hitched to the times? — Kenneth Koch

If you don't like the President, it costs you 90 bucks to fly to Washington to picket. If you don't like the governor, it costs you 60 bucks to fly to Albany to picket. If you don't like me - 90 cents. — Ed Koch

I'm confident President Obama will continue his unambiguous commitment to the Jewish state in his second term. — Ed Koch

Oh, sure, they'd insisted I take Washington Wife class after I'd inadvertently insulted the Prime Minster of England, but how could I have known he wasn't willing to admit that the Rolling Stones weren't half the band Aerosmith was and never would be? — Gini Koch

Claire is smarter than I am. I'm not saying that out of some half-baked feminist sentiment or in order to endear women to me. You'll never hear me claim that 'women in general' are smarter than men. Or more sensitive, more intuitive, or that they are more 'in touch with life', or any of the other horseshit that, when all is said and done, so-called 'sensitive' men try to peddle more often than women themselves. — Herman Koch

The pure culture is the foundation for all research on infectious disease. — Robert Koch

Never had there been such an opportunity for the dissemination of knowledge ... . But the obverse is also true. We can have thrust upon us a false picture of reality as distorting as the trick mirrors in a Coney Island funhouse. — Howard E. Koch

Chose the niche that you enjoy, where you can excel and stand a chance of becoming and acknowledged leader. — Richard Koch

Paper balls? You were throwing balled up paper at an alligator? — Gini Koch

Make the choice that you want to be happy. You owe it to yourself and you owe it to other people too. — Richard Koch

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

This is Necropolis Enforcement. Drop any non-organic weapons, put your arms, flippers, claws, tentacles, or any other extremities up, and walk, slither, stomp, crawl, et cetera, out of the darkness or be exterminated with extreme prejudice. — Gini Koch

This kind of compartmentalizing - separating one's livelihood from one's social aspirations - is part of the reason David Koch, the hidden hand behind a lot of ultraconservatives and, reportedly, the Tea Party movement in the United States, transforms himself into a respected arts patron by funding a theater at Lincoln Center, or why at Swiss bank that helps U.S. depositors avoid paying taxes generously supports symphony halls and the ballet. It's almost as if there are moral scales, and by tossing some loot on one side, you can balance out the precarious situation your reputation might be getting into on the other. — David Byrne

Both my parents were a tremendous influence on me. My father's influence came from - he decided well, probably before we were born that as he put it, 'I'm not going to have any kids who are country club bums.' — Charles Koch

I get a lot of death threats. But the way I look at it, I feel I have a moral obligation to do the best I can to make the country better for everybody, and that threatens certain people because they're going to have much less power. I want the power to go back to people making decisions over their own lives rather than some experts making it. — Charles Koch

Everything I give, pretty much, is public. Not every donor wants to - or is willing to get the kind of abuse and attacks that we do, or death threats, so they're not willing to have their names out. I think the other side is pushing for that because they want to intimidate people so they won't oppose it. — Charles Koch

When I used to teach creative writing, I would tell the students to make their characters want something right away - even if it's only a glass of water. Characters paralyzed by the meaninglessness of modern life still have to drink water from time to time. — Stephen Koch

We're in the hands of the state legislature and God, but at the moment, the state legislature has more to say than God. — Ed Koch

The fundamental weakness in the Tea Party machine is the stark difference between what the leaders of the Tea Party elite - plutocrats like the Koch Brothers -want and what the average grassroots Tea Party follower wants. — Chuck Schumer

Billionaires like the Koch brothers, casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, and political puppet master Karl Rove should not be able to buy our elections. Secret money should not be able to drown out the voices of the American people and sell our Democracy to the highest bidder. — Hank Johnson

We oppose all corporate welfare, whether we benefit or not. You will find that our policy positions mainly hurt our profitability rather than help it. — Charles Koch

The Steyer brothers deplore the Koch brothers' big-money contributions, as they seek to trump them. That the formers' money in part derives from coal investments matters little given their green intentions. The media are furious over rumor-mongering about Hillary Clinton's health, but that is an ad hoc concern, not one born of principle about leaving the private health issues of public figures alone, given that they not long ago gladly trafficked in sick rumors about Sarah Palin's supposed faked pregnancy. — Anonymous

I'll marry you before any tree on Earth. — Gini Koch

Stereotypes lose their power when the world is found to be more complex than the stereotype would suggest. When we learn that individuals do not fit the group stereotype, then it begins to fall apart. — Ed Koch

Whenever I leave Manhattan, I get the bends! — Ed Koch

Creation occurs when ideas and individuals collide and collude. — Richard Koch

I was excited by what my painter friends were doing, and they seemed to be interested in our poetry too, and that was a wonderful little, fizzy sort of world. — Kenneth Koch

I believe that cronyism is nothing more than welfare for the rich and powerful, and should be abolished. — Charles Koch

change, had been a featured guest at a fund-raiser that David Koch hosted for about seventy of the — Jane Mayer

I love being the mayor. I want to be the mayor forever. — Ed Koch

I'm not the type to get ulcers. I give them. — Ed Koch

There is no rush. If we think intelligently about what we can achieve with our time, we can be relaxed, even lazy. In fact, being lazy - having plenty of time to think - may actually be a precondition for achieving a great deal. — Richard Koch

Successful companies create value by providing products or services their customers value more highly than available alternatives. They do this while consuming fewer resources, leaving more resources available to satisfy other needs in society. Value creation involves making people's lives better. It is contributing to prosperity in society. — Charles Koch

The poorest Americans use three time the energy as the percentage of their income as the average American does. This is going to disproportionately hurt the poor. It may make the whole electric grid unstable, depending on how it is enforced. And it does nothing for the climate. — Charles Koch

My crazy's working a lot better than your sanity. — Gini Koch

FALSE EQUIVALENCY

If you compare the Koch brothers to George Soros and you compare MSNBC to FOX News then why not compare the NAACP to the Ku Klux Klan, George Washington to King George, Abraham Lincoln to Jefferson Davis, Barack Obama to Vladimir Putin;
If you compare the Democratic party to the Republican party then why not compare Citizens United with Brown versus Board of Education, Churchill to Mussolini, Martin Luther King to George Wallace;
If you compare Liberals to Conservatives then why not compare Boxing to Cage Fighting, Mozart to Salieri, Edward Kennedy Ellington to Lawrence Welk, Three Card Monty to Inside Trading, John Birks Gillespie to Cab Callaway;
If you are mentally slothful enough to engage in false equivalency, why not go all the way? Pretend that ignorance equates with knowledge, Science with Mythology and empathy with apathy? — E. Landon Hobgood

Hard work leads to low returns. Insight and doing what we want lead to high returns. — Richard Koch

Boxers or briefs- FINALLY! 'THE' QUESTION! FINALLY! I've been waiting since my first interview for someone to ask me this! And, my answer is: Thong or Commando — Gini Koch

A fixed appointment for the immediate future is the gates of hell; — Herman Koch

Democracy. For something that has no specific dictionary definition, it is as open to interpretation as any holy book is, and as wide open to as many translative abuses, yet without any definitive definition the process means something very different to every person it impacts upon. I would add that until we get an accurate definition the word is meaningless, and when the process is so open to interpretation that the Koch Bros can buy it, legally, without any fuss, that action in itself is not democratic, but neither is it illegal? All that before i hit the dangers of party politics ... — Steve Merrick

It's not going to help the country to be subsidizing uneconomical forms of energy - whether you call them 'green,' 'renewable' or whatever. In that case, the cure is worse than the disease. — Charles Koch

Is it life threatening? they asked. They said it slightly sotto voce, but you could hear the thirst for sensation right through it: when people get a chance to come close to death without having it touch them personally, they never miss the opportunity. — Herman Koch

From a young age, I had done a lot of theater and musical theater. I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do with my life, but every time I was away from acting, I just felt very incomplete and a little stir crazy. — Alexander Koch

The way I look at it is, cancer research is absolutely nonpartisan. Cancer is very democratic in the sense that it attacks people regardless of their race, their gender, their national background, or their political persuasions. — David H. Koch

Deals are my art form. Other people paint beautifully on canvas or write wonderful poetry. I like making deals, preferably big deals. That's how I get my kicks. — Ed Koch

The way to create something great is to create something simple. — Richard Koch

You come from Planet Hunk, sent to Earth to protect and serve. And make the ladies happy. — Gini Koch

Those guys are doing the Koch Brothers bidding and are against all the evidence of the rational mind, saying global warming does not exit. They are contemptible human beings. I wish there were a law you could punish them with. I don't think there is a law that you can punish those politicians under. — Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

When I was a bachelor with a different girl on my arm every week, people didn't think I was quite legitimate. — David H. Koch

If I traveled to the end of the rainbow as Dame Fortune did intend, Murphy would be there to tell me the pot's at the other end. — Ed Koch

And like a good neighbor, Alpha Centauri is there.
Touched by an Alien — Gini Koch

The dilemma I was faced with was one every parent faces sooner or later: you want to defend your child, of course; you stand up for your child, but you mustn't do it all too vehemently, and above all not too eloquently - you mustn't drive anyone into a corner. The educators, the teachers, will let you have your say, but afterwards they'll take revenge on your child. You may come up with better arguments - it's not too hard to come up with better arguments than the educators, the teachers - but in the end, your child to going to pay for it. Their frustration at being shown up is something they'll take out on the student. — Herman Koch

Many businesses with unpopular products or inefficient production find it much easier to curry the favor of a few influential politicians or a government agency than to compete in the open market. — Charles Koch

When I first went to college, I went to Western Michigan. I had been rejected by a bunch of schools for theater. I was like, 'I'm obviously not cut out for this, so I might as well just go into film.' — Alexander Koch

Conventional wisdom is not to put all of your eggs in one basket. 80/20 wisdom is to choose a basket carefully, load all your eggs into it, and then watch it like a hawk. — Richard Koch

Best part of my job is fulfillment. When I see that, that we're creating value, that we're helping improve people's lives, and we benefit from it, so it's a system of mutual benefit. Our philosophy's working. That's what turns me on. That's what keeps me going. — Charles Koch

80% of the results come from 20% of the causes. A few things are important; most are not. — Richard Koch

I think to balance the budget, probably every federal department has to take cuts in my opinion. — David H. Koch

When the conversation turns too quickly to films,I see it as a sign of weakness. — Herman Koch

You might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb. — Howard E. Koch

I learned an important lesson - that the value of the stock is not the same as the underlying value of the company. The stock goes up and down according to the whims and wiles of Wall Street. The value of the company depends on elements that contribute to the creation of real value - things like providing superior products at fair prices. You need to be learning and innovating, giving your people interesting, motivating work and compensating them fairly, creating value for your community, and doing it all in a way that yields a good profit. That's not what much of Wall Street values, but it's what creates long-term value for investors. — Jim Koch

As an engineer, I understood that the natural world operated according to fixed laws. Through my studies, I came to realize that there were, likewise, laws that govern human wellbeing. It seemed to me that these laws are fundamental not only to the wellbeing of societies, but also to the miniature societies of organizations. Indeed, that is what we found when we began to apply these principles systematically at Koch Industries. Through our observation of how they could create prosperity in an organization, I began to systematize my beliefs into Market-Based Management. — Charles Koch

Technically, just like with the rings of a tree or Carbon-14, it had to be possible to measure the passage of time by the melting of vanilla ice cream. — Herman Koch

Certainly, it seems true enough that there's a good deal of irony in the world ... I mean, if you live in a world full of politicians and advertising, there's obviously a lot of deception. — Kenneth Koch

It seems everything is so full of possibilities one can hardly take it all in. — Kenneth Koch

I hated having to be someplace on time, it took away so many potential orgasms. — Gini Koch

Picasso said once when being interviewed that one should not be one's own connoisseur. — Kenneth Koch

The key is to work out the few things that are really important, and the few methods that will give us what we really want. — Richard Koch

Plans make dreams reality. — Susan Pace-Koch

The very fact that I became mayor in 1977 conveys how you can't figure out what the people will do. Nobody thought I would be elected. When I entered I got four percent of the vote in the first poll, four percent. — Ed Koch

I'm very proud to know the Koch brothers. This may be a breaking news announcement for the media: I am the Koch brothers' brother from another mother. — Herman Cain

Once I start writing about something, it goes off rather fast, and sometimes details which might be interesting such as what the room looked like or what somebody said that was not exactly on the same subject tend to get lost. — Kenneth Koch

I never thought of myself as a New York poet or as an American poet. — Kenneth Koch

Around here, we're as happy as God in France. — Herman Koch

Something in me whispered that I needed to stop thinking, that I should above all not go too far
with thinking. But that never worked; I always thought things through to the end, to their most
extreme consequence. — Herman Koch

Ed Koch will never 'rest in peace.' That was not his way. He was always nervously squirming, while making others squirm as well. Comfort was not his goal. He understood that to be a proud and assertive Jew meant never being able to leave a sigh of relief and say, 'It's over, we are at peace, we can now put down our guard and relax.' — Alan Dershowitz

I'm a writer who likes to be influenced. — Kenneth Koch

There will never be another Ed Koch. He was an original, but he represented a significant, if shrinking, segment of American Jewry who refused to compromise their liberal values, their support for Israel or their Jewish pride. — Alan Dershowitz

A classical liberal is someone who wants a society that maximizes peace, civility, tolerance, and well-being for everyone. One that opens opportunities for everyone to advance themselves. — Charles Koch

To attain knowledge, add things every day. To attain wisdom, remove things every day. Lao-Tzu — Richard Koch

When I was first elected I got 50% of the vote in '77 in the general election. In '81 I got 75%. In '85, I got 78%. No mayor has ever gotten that high a vote. So it was not an issue. Except for people who were very hostile to me. They thought they would injure me. — Ed Koch

Some of the French surrealists at the beginning of the war had come over to New York and they brought out this magazine. It was a big, glossy magazine full of surrealist things. — Kenneth Koch

A reader reads a book. If it's a good book, he forgets himself. That's all a book has to do. When the reader can't forget himself and keeps having to think about the writer the whole time, the book is a failure. That has nothing to do with fun. If it's fun you're after, buy a ticket for a roller coaster. That — Herman Koch

'The Nutcracker' is the ballet that keeps on giving. — David H. Koch

But before I ran out and got shot by someone I merely hadn't seen, I examined the remote. There were a lot of buttons on it. None of them were marked. Naturally, I considered hitting some at random but decided I was thrilled to still be alive and unscathed. — Gini Koch

My brain is good, but my body is deteriorating. I probably have another two or three years. Or I can pass tomorrow, but it doesn't make a difference to me. — Ed Koch

This rose became a bandanna, which became a house, which became infused with all passion, which became a hideaway, which became yes I would like to have dinner, which became hands, which became lands, shores, beaches, natives on the stones, staring and wild beasts in the trees, chasing the hats of lost hunters, and all this deserves a tone. — Kenneth Koch

Politics is the means by which the will of the few becomes the will of the many. — Howard W. Koch

Good heart, Good deeds, Good times! — Susan Pace-Koch

80 percent of products, or customers or employees, are only contributing 20 percent of profits; that there is great waste; that the most powerful resources of the company are being held back by a majority of much less effective resources; that profits could be multiplied if more of the best sort of products could be sold, employees hired, or customers attracted (or convinced to buy more from the firm). — Richard Koch

Wow, bossy and nasty. What a fun combo. — Gini Koch

When I came in, the city was on the edge of bankruptcy. I'm proud of what I did. I built the foundation that mayors after me built upon - particularly Bloomberg. But the foundation was essential because if it hadn't occurred, we would have been another Detroit. — Ed Koch

Biology is a force to be reckoned with. An ugly child you love with all your heart and soul, you. But it's different. You're pleased with your third-floor walk-up, also, until someone invites you I've to dinner at a house with a pool in the garden. — Herman Koch

I don't believe novels should carry an obvious message. I don't want to write characters you can immediately say are good or bad; as in life, most people are a mixture. — Christopher Koch

And please don't sink into this woeful nonsense about not having time to read ... The real culprit here is almost never your schedule. It is your boredom
your boredom with the books you think you are supposed to read. Find a book you want, a book that gives you real trembling excitement, a book that is hot in your hands, and you'll have time galore. — Stephen Koch

You pass a program and get people dependent on it, making it brutal to get rid of. The key is not letting it get started. — Charles Koch

I think you're cute when the power goes to your head. — Gini Koch

It happens that I'm heterosexual, but I don't care about that. I do care about protecting the rights of 10 percent of our population who are homosexual and who don't have the ability to protect their rights. — Ed Koch

Any of the social changes in American history are because people thought there was injustice. We have to show that this corporate welfare and cronyism is unjust - and that it's not only rigging the system so people get wealthy who don't deserve to get wealthy. — Charles Koch