1. Quotes
  2. Authors
  3. David Dinkins

David Dinkins Quotes

David Norman Dinkins is an American politician, lawyer, and author who served as the 106th Mayor of New York City, from 1990 to 1993. He was the first and, to date, the only African American to hold that office.

Before entering politics, Dinkins was among the more than 20,000 Montford Point Marines, the first African-American U.S. Marines ; he graduated cum laude from Howard University; and he received his law degree from Brooklyn Law School .

Dinkins began his political career by serving in the State Assembly , eventually advancing to Manhattan borough president before becoming mayor. Under the Dinkins administration, crime in New York City decreased more dramatically and more rapidly than at any time in previous New York City history.After leaving office, Dinkins joined the faculty of Columbia University. Dinkins was a member of the board of directors of the United States Tennis Association and a member of the Jazz Foundation of America. He serves on the boards of the New York City Global Partners, the Children's Health Fund, the Association to Benefit Children and the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund. Dinkins is also on the advisory board of Independent News & Media and the Black Leadership Forum, is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and is chairman emeritus of the board of directors of the National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS. Wikipedia  

✵ 10. July 1927
David Dinkins photo
David Dinkins: 6   quotes 0   likes

Famous David Dinkins Quotes

“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.”

David Dinkins

On The Fiscal Crisis Of The 1970s. Quoted in an interview by PBS http://www.pbs.org/wnet/newyork/series/interview/dinkins.html

“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.”

David Dinkins

quoted by Book of African-American Quotations (Page 47).

“I haven't committed a crime. What I did was fail to comply with the law.”

David Dinkins

quoted by By Rudolf Melik in The Rise of the Project Workforce: Managing People and Projects in a Flat World (Page 57).

“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.”

David Dinkins

On The Fiscal Crisis Of The 1970s. Quoted in an interview by PBS http://www.pbs.org/wnet/newyork/series/interview/dinkins.html

“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.”

David Dinkins

On New York as the capital of the world. Quoted in an interview by PBS http://www.pbs.org/wnet/newyork/series/interview/dinkins.html

“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.”

David Dinkins

On New York as the capital of the world. Quoted in an interview by PBS http://www.pbs.org/wnet/newyork/series/interview/dinkins.html

Similar authors

Sri Chinmoy photo
Sri Chinmoy 75
Indian writer and guru
Nikola Tesla photo
Nikola Tesla 125
Serbian American inventor
The Notorious B.I.G. photo
The Notorious B.I.G. 19
American rapper
Paul Krugman photo
Paul Krugman 106
American economist
Al Capone photo
Al Capone 44
American gangster
Oliver Herford photo
Oliver Herford 14
American writer
Roy J. Glauber photo
Roy J. Glauber 1
American theoretical physicist
Golda Meir photo
Golda Meir 38
former prime minister of Israel
Mae West photo
Mae West 24
American actress and sex symbol
Erich Fromm photo
Erich Fromm 117
German social psychologist and psychoanalyst