Quotes about mayor

A collection of quotes on the topic of mayor, people, doing, news.

Quotes about mayor

Lewis Carroll photo

“He is immensely fat, and so
Well suits the occupation:
In point of fact, if you must know,
We used to call him years ago,
THE MAYOR AND CORPORATION!”

Lewis Carroll (1832–1898) English writer, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer

Canto 5
Phantasmagoria (1869)

Lewis Carroll photo

“Who's the Knight-Mayor?" I cried. Instead
Of answering my question,
"Well, if you don't know THAT," he said,
"Either you never go to bed,
Or you've a grand digestion!”

Lewis Carroll (1832–1898) English writer, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer

Canto 5, "Byckerment"
Phantasmagoria (1869)

Megan Mullally photo

“It doesn't matter who you love, it's that you love. Who cares if men marry men or women marry women? In San Francisco you don't care, and I applaud that. And I applaud Mayor Newsom for being so brave.”

Megan Mullally (1958) American actress

Upon receiving GLAAD's Golden Gate Award, which honors a member of the entertainment or media community for their outstanding contribution in combating homophobia

Benjamin Disraeli photo
Tim Burton photo
Jorge Vargas González photo

“What I got as result was my work for two periods as mayor. She came as if she owned the place, but she has to earn respect first. I just met her when she presented as candidate; before, we never saw her.”

Jorge Vargas González (1967) Chilean politician

On the defeat of Paulina Nin in her candidacy for Mayor of Pichilemu, in "Jorge Vargas: 'Paulina Nin le faltó el respeto a mi pueblo...'", La Cuarta, (4 November 2004) http://www.lacuarta.com/diario/2004/1104/04.07.4a.CRO.PICHILEMU.html

J. Bradford DeLong photo

“Hayek says that the problem with classical liberalism was that it was not pure enough. The government needed to restrict itself to establishing the rule of law and to using antitrust to break up monopolies. It was the overreach of the government beyond those limits, via central banking and social democracy, that caused all the trouble. A democratic government needs to limit itself to rule of law and antitrust–and perhaps soup kitchens and shelters. And what if democracy turns out not to produce a government that limits itself to those activities? Then, Hayek says, so much the worse for democracy. A Pinochet is then called for to, in a Lykourgan moment, minimalize the state. After social democracy has been leveled and the rubble cleared away, then–perhaps–a limited range of issues can be discussed and debated by a–limited–restored democracy, with some kind of group of right-wing army officers descended from latifundistas Council of Guardians in the background to ensure that property remains sacred and protected, and the government small enough to fit in a bathtub. […] Hayek was formed in Austria. From his perspective the property and enterprise respecting Imperial Habsburg government of Franz Josef eager to make no waves, to hold what it has, and to keep the lid off the pressure cooker appears not unattractive. This is especially so when you contrasted would be really existing authoritarian alternatives: anti-Semitic populist demagogue mayors of Vienna; nationalist Serbian or Croatian politicians interested in maintaining popular legitimacy by waging class war or ethnic war; separatists who seek independence and then one man, one vote, one time. An “authoritarian” after the manner of Franz Josef looks quite attractive in this context–and if you convince yourself but they are as dedicated to small government neoliberalism as you are, and that the Lykourgan moment of the form will be followed by soft rule and popular assent, so much the better. And if the popular assent is not forthcoming? Then Hayek can blame the socialists, and say it is their fault for not understanding how good a deal they are offered.”

J. Bradford DeLong (1960) American economist

Making Sense of Friedrich A. von Hayek: Focus/The Honest Broker for the Week of August 9, 2014 http://equitablegrowth.org/making-sense-friedrich-von-hayek-focusthe-honest-broker-week-august-9-2014/ (2014)

Tina Fey photo
Boris Johnson photo

“You shaped the office of mayor. You gave it national prominence and when London was attacked on 7 July 2005 you spoke for London.”

Boris Johnson (1964) British politician, historian and journalist

2000s, 2008, First Speech As London Mayor (May 3, 2008)

George Washington Plunkitt photo
Richard J. Evans photo
Ken Livingstone photo
Michael Bloomberg photo
John Wentworth photo

“You damned fools. You can either vote for me for mayor or you can go to hell.”

John Wentworth (1815–1888) American newspaper editor and politician

Quoted in Chicago Magazine, June 2006 http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/June-2006/The-Perfect-Mayor/

Gerard Batten photo
Dianne Feinstein photo

“Turn again Whittington,
Thrice Mayor of London”

said by the bells of London
English Fairy Tales (1890), Preface to English Fairy Tales, Whittington and his Cat

Boris Johnson photo

“And as for Ken, Mayor Livingstone, I think you have been a very considerable public servant and a distinguished leader of this city.”

Boris Johnson (1964) British politician, historian and journalist

2000s, 2008, First Speech As London Mayor (May 3, 2008)

Tenzin Gyatso photo

“Media people should have long noses like an elephant to smell out politicians, mayors, prime ministers and businessmen. We need to know the reality, the good and the bad, not just the appearance.”

Tenzin Gyatso (1935) spiritual leader of Tibet

News conference in Vancouver, B.C. as quoted in The Globe and Mail. (8 September 2006) http://web.archive.org/web/20070326201154/http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20060908.BCDALAILAMA08/TPStory/.

Donald J. Trump photo

“Mayor Koch has stated that hate and rancor should be removed from our hearts. I do not think so.”

Donald J. Trump (1946) 45th President of the United States of America

"Bring Back the Death Penalty. Bring Back Our Police!" http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.1838466.1403324800!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/article_970/trump21n-1-web.jpg An advert taken out by Trump in the New York Daily News and other newspapers in the wake of the arrests of the Central Park Five (whose convictions were eventually vacated once the real perpetrator was identified in 2002) (1 May 1989)
1980s

Pricasso photo

“Mayor Helen Zille has shrugged off the news that her portrait has been painted by an 'artist' who uses his penis as a brush, saying it is his constitutional right to exercise his freedom of expression 'in this unusual way.”

Pricasso (1949) Australian painter

[Cape Argus staff, Artist uses a different stroke on Zille portrait, Cape Argus, South Africa, 7 May 2008, 3, Independent Online]
About

Gustave Courbet photo
Sister Souljah photo
Winston S. Churchill photo
James A. Garfield photo

“It was a doctrine old as the common law, maintained by our Anglo-Saxon ancestors centuries before it was planted in the American Colonies, that taxation and representation were inseparable correlatives, the one a duty based upon the other as a right But the neglect of the government to provide a system which made the Parliamentary representation conform to the increase of population, and the growth and decadence of cities and boroughs, had, by almost imperceptible degrees, disfranchised the great mass of the British people, and placed the legislative power in the hands of a few leading families of the realm. Towards the close of the last century the question of Parliamentary reform assumed a definite shape, and since that time has constituted one of the most prominent features in British politics. It was found not only that the basis of representation was unequal and unjust, but that the right of the elective franchise was granted to but few of the inhabitants, and was regulated by no fixed and equitable rule. Here I may quote from May's Constitutional History: 'In some of the corporate towns, the inhabitants paying scot and lot, and freemen, were admitted to vote; in some, the freemen only; and in many, none but the governing body of the corporation. At Buckingham and at Bewdley the right of election was confined to the bailiff and twelve burgesses; at Bath, to the mayor, ten aldermen, and twenty-four common-councilmen; at Salisbury, to the mayor and corporation, consisting of fifty-six persons. And where more popular rights of election were acknowledged, there were often very few inhabitants to exercise them. Gatton enjoyed a liberal franchise. All freeholders and inhabitants paying scot and lot were entitled to vote, but they only amounted to seven. At Tavistock all freeholders rejoiced in the franchise, but there were only ten. At St. Michael all inhabitants paying scot and lot were electors, but there were only seven. In 1793 the Society of the Friends of the People were prepared to prove that in England and Wales seventy members were returned by thirty-five places in which there were scarcely any electors at all; that ninety members were returned by forty-six places with less than fifty electors; and thirty-seven members by nineteen places having not more than one hundred electors. Such places were returning members, while Leeds, Birmingham, and Manchester were unrepresented; and the members whom they sent to Parliament were the nominees of peers and other wealthy patrons. No abuse was more flagrant than the direct control of peers over the constitution of the Lower House. The Duke of Norfolk was represented by eleven members; Lord Lonsdale by nine; Lord Darlington by seven; the Duke of Rutland, the Marquis of Buckingham, and Lord Carrington, each by six. Seats were held in both Houses alike by hereditary right.”

James A. Garfield (1831–1881) American politician, 20th President of the United States (in office in 1881)

1860s, Oration at Ravenna, Ohio (1865)

Eric Chu photo
Lou Barletta photo
David Dinkins photo

“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 (1927) former mayor of New York City

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

David Kurten photo

“Since Donald Trump became President, London’s Mayor has become increasingly hostile to one of the best and most Anglophile Presidents there has ever been. Instead of building a good relationship and welcoming his offer of putting Britain at the front of the queue for a trade deal, he has snubbed him with a series of personal insults.”

David Kurten (1971) British politician

‘Not Welcome’: London’s Muslim Mayor Repeats Calls to Cancel Trump Visit http://www.breitbart.com/london/2017/12/26/not-welcome-londons-muslim-mayor-repeats-calls-cancel-trump-visit/ (December 26, 2017)

Charlton Heston photo
Mitt Romney photo
Al Sharpton photo

“When he said he was going to stop the march and called it a hate march, I think that was very provocative. The Mayor's statements have created a climate that could possibly lead to some kind of confrontation.”

Al Sharpton (1954) American Baptist minister, civil rights activist, and television/radio talk show host

News conference (18 August 1999), prior to the second Million Youth March[citation needed]

Lyndon B. Johnson photo

“Mr. Vice President, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Ambassador Goldberg, distinguished Members of the leadership of the Congress, distinguished Governors and mayors, my fellow countrymen. We have called the Congress here this afternoon not only to mark a very historic occasion, but to settle a very old issue that is in dispute. That issue is, to what congressional district does Liberty Island really belong; Congressman Farbstein or Congressman Gallagher? It will be settled by whoever of the two can walk first to the top of the Statue of Liberty. This bill that we will sign today is not a revolutionary bill. It does not affect the lives of millions. It will not reshape the structure of our daily lives, or really add importantly to either our wealth or our power. Yet it is still one of the most important acts of this Congress and of this administration. For it does repair a very deep and painful flaw in the fabric of American justice. It corrects a cruel and enduring wrong in the conduct of the American nation. Speaker McCormack and Congressman Celler almost 40 years ago first pointed that out in their maiden speeches in the Congress. And this measure that we will sign today will really make us truer to ourselves both as a country and as a people. It will strengthen us in a hundred unseen ways.”

Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973) American politician, 36th president of the United States (in office from 1963 to 1969)

1960s, Remarks at the signing of the Immigration Bill (1965)

Max Ernst photo
Frederik Pohl photo
George William Curtis photo

“Mayor Macbeth, of Charleston, told General Howard that he did not believe that a bureau at Washington could manage the social relations of the people from the Potomac to the Rio Grande. But the answer to Mayor Macbeth is that he and his companions have managed those relations at a cost to the country of four years of civil war, three thousand millions of dollars, and hundreds of thousands of lives. The Freedmen's Bureau will hardly be as expensive as that. And while such a bureau merely defends the rights of a certain class under the laws, the aid societies give them that education which in the present state of local feeling would be inevitably withheld. The mighty arch of Sherman, wasting and taming the land, is followed by the noiseless steps of the band of unnamed heroes and heroines who are teaching the people. The soldier drew the furrow, the teacher drops the seed. There is many and many a devoted woman, hidden at this moment in the lowliest cabins of the South, whose name poets will not sing nor historians record, but whose patient toil the eye that marks the sparrow's fall beholds and approves. Not more noble, not more essential, was the work of the bravest and most famous of the heroes who fell in the wild storm of battle, than that of many a woman to us unknown, faithful through privation and exposure and disease, and perishing at the lonely outpost of duty in the act of helping the nation keep its word.”

George William Curtis (1824–1892) American writer

1860s, The Good Fight (1865)

“Firefighters across the country have no greater friend than Rudy Giuliani. Those of us who have worked with Rudy Giuliani know he has always been a strong and consistent supporter of firefighters and first responders. On September 11th and the days that followed Mayor Giuliani once again demonstrated his commitment to the safety and well being of our firefighters and his respect for their extraordinary courage and sacrifice.”

Howard Safir (1941)

A statement by Safir posted on JoinRudy2008.com, Rudy Giuliani's official presidential campaign website
[Howard Safir, http://www.joinrudy2008.com/news/pr/417/, MAYOR GIULIANI’S RECORD OF SUPPORT FOR NEW YORK’S BRAVEST, Rudy Giuliani Presidential Committee, Inc., 2007-07-09, 2007-12-20]

Russell Brand photo

“Only Boris concerns me. When I used to watch Have I Got News For You, which as a kid I was proud to watch, full stop, I loved it when Boris Johnson came on. I didn't know who he was or what he did, I didn't think about it, I just liked him. I liked his voice, his manner, his name, his vocabulary, his self-effacing charm, humour and, of course, his hair. He has catwalk hair. Vogue cover hair, Rumplestiltskin spun it out of straw, straight-out-of-bed, drop-dead, gold-thread hair. He was always at ease with Deayton, Merton and Hislop, equal to their wit and always gave a great account of himself. "This bloke is cool," I thought. As I grew up I found out that he was an old Etonian, bully-boy, Spectator-editing Tory.
"That's weird," I thought. While I was busy becoming a world-class junkie, the man from HIGNFY became mayor. People like Boris Johnson; I like the HIGNFY Boris. He is the most popular politician in the country. Well, not in the country, on the television. There is a difference. Most people, of course, haven't met him, they've seen him on the telly. When I met Boris in his office, the nucleus of his dominion, I glanced at his library. Among the Wodehouses and the Euripides there were, of course, fierce economic tomes, capitalist manuals, bibles of domination. Eye-to-eye, the bumbling bonhomie appeared to be a lacquer of likability over a living obelisk of corporate power.”

Russell Brand (1975) British comedian, actor, and author

Russell Brand - The Guardian (2013)

“Mayor Giuliani is a strong and principled leader. I saw firsthand his leadership in helping transform a crime-ridden New York City into the safest large city in our nation, while increasing preparedness by opening the city’s first Office of Emergency Management. He has always shown uncompromising courage in the face of challenges. I am proud to lead First Responders across America who support Rudy for President.”

Howard Safir (1941)

A statement by Safir posted on JoinRudy2008.com, Rudy Giuliani's official presidential campaign website anouncing the creation of "First Responders for Rudy"
[Howard Safir, http://www.joinrudy2008.com/article/index/748, Rudy Giuliani Unveils National First Responders Coalition, Rudy Giuliani Presidential Committee, Inc., 2007-08-28, 2007-12-20]

Eric Chu photo
Sarah Palin photo

“I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a community organizer, except that you have actual responsibilities.”

Sarah Palin (1964) American politician

Referring to her mayorship of Wasilla, Alaska.
[2008-09-04, Quotes of the Day, Time, http://www.time.com/time/quotes/0,26174,1838588,00.html]
2008, 2008 Republican National Convention

Tina Fey photo
Alan Charles Kors photo
Eric Garcetti photo

“[In response to using profanity] We didn’t win lawn bowling, we won at hockey…Kids out there, do not say what your mayor said today.”

Eric Garcetti (1971) American politician

quoted by Lida de Moraes of Deadline Hollywood https://deadline.com/2014/06/eric-garcetti-f-bomb-bill-de-blasio-jimmy-kimmel-kings-stanley-cup-video-791424/ (June 16, 2014)
2014, Los Angeles Kings Stanley Cup celebration

Ken Livingstone photo
Michael Bloomberg photo
Allen West (politician) photo
John Shadegg photo

“I saw the mayor of New York said today, 'We're tough. We can do it.' Well, Mayor, how are you going to feel when it's your daughter that's kidnapped at school by a terrorist?”

John Shadegg (1949) American politician

Referring to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's comments on trying terrorists in criminal courts in NYC.
Quoted in
Terrorism

Peter Whittle (politician) photo

“Whether it be in the toleration of sharia courts, or the turning of a blind eye to cultural practices which go against our laws, too often it has been women who have been the victims of those problems. I have always believed that a multi-ethnic society such as ours can be successful if it can be united by a common set of values and sense of identity, instead of a constant emphasis on division. It’s amazing to think that this was once considered outlandish. It can be difficult to explain this crucial difference in a city like London. More than one TV interviewer has asked me how, as UKIP’s Mayoral candidate, I can appeal to such a multicultural place as our capital. But this is to miss the point entirely. Like anybody else, I enjoy the huge profusion of completely diverse cuisine, fashion and music. Indeed the different cultural influences on our city are so big and ingrained it’s easy to take them for granted. But this is not the same thing as ensuring and, indeed, standing up for the common values and laws which should and must underpin any cohesive society. Here, as across Europe, one of those values – enshrined in our legal system – is that everybody is equal before the law regardless of their gender, sexuality or ethnicity.”

Peter Whittle (politician) (1961) British author, politician, and journalist

‘Cultural Cringe’: Women Are The First Victims Of State-Sponsored Multiculturalism http://www.breitbart.com/london/2016/01/13/2764329/ (January 13, 2016)

Allen West (politician) photo
John Holt (Lord Chief Justice) photo
Ann Coulter photo

“I don't believe Hurricane Harvey is God's punishment for Houston electing a lesbian mayor. But that is more credible than "climate change."”

Ann Coulter (1961) author, political commentator

https://twitter.com/AnnCoulter/status/902373016818126849 (August 30, 2017)
2017

Valerie Jarrett photo

“Michelle was so mature beyond her years, so thoughtful and perceptive. She really prodded me about what the job would be like because she had lots of choices. I offered it to her on the spot, which was totally inappropriate because I should have talked to the mayor first. But I just knew she was really special.
Barack never grills. That's part of what is so effective about him: He puts you completely at ease, and the next thing you know he's asking more and more probing questions and gets you to open up and reflect a little bit. That night we talked about his childhood compared to my childhood and realized we both had rather…unusual childhoods.
Married in 1983, separated in 1987, and divorced in 1988. Enough said. He was a physician. He passed away. I want to say in about 1991.
We grew up together. We were friends since childhood. In a sense, he was the boy next door. I married without really appreciating how hard divorce would be.
I have to tell you: My daughter is in seventh heaven about me being in Vogue. Nothing else I have done has fazed her at all. But this! She's like, 'Oh, Mom. You don't understand. This is really big.'
I have never heard him yell, Ever. Not once in seventeen years. He's not a yeller.
Because my dad worked at the university, he could swing by and take Laura to school and pick her up from her first day of nursery school until the day she graduated from high school. They would often have breakfast and have these wonderful conversations.”

Valerie Jarrett (1956) Chicago lawyer, businesswoman, civic leader; senior advisor to U.S. Senator Barack Obama

September 2008 interview with Vogue https://web.archive.org/web/20080930190831/http://www.style.com/vogue/feature/2008_Oct_Valerie_Jarrett//

Olavo de Carvalho photo
John McCain photo

“I am prepared. I need no on-the-job training. I wasn't a mayor for a short period of time. I wasn't a governor for a short period of time.”

John McCain (1936–2018) politician from the United States

In Republican presidential debate, Orlando, Florida, 21 October 2007 http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/21/us/politics/21debate-transcript.html?pagewanted=3
2000s, 2007

George V of the United Kingdom photo

“After you've met one hundred and fifty Lord Mayors, they all begin to look the same.”

George V of the United Kingdom (1865–1936) King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India

Attributed

Donald J. Trump photo
Roberto Saviano photo
David Shuster photo

“Extremely surprised and impressed by the 'naked cowboy's' mayoral run. That guy knows the issues… despite his outfit or lack thereof.”

David Shuster (1967) American television journalist

10:30 PM - 22 Jul 09 http://twitter.com/DavidShuster/status/2784657909
On Twitter

Ray Nagin photo

“I think I did everything possible known to any mayor in the country as it relates to saving lives.”

Ray Nagin (1956) politician, businessman

Transcript for September 11, Ray Nagin, Arlen Specter, John Barry & Ivor van Heerden
2005

Michael Bloomberg photo
Robert Burton photo
Richard Rodríguez photo
Jerry Springer photo

“Okay bear with me this'll be a little tough. You should know this isn't the first time I thought about leaving. I thought about it some twenty years ago when a check that would soon become a part of Cincinnati folklore, made me see life from the bottom. To be honest, a thought about ending it all crossed my mind, but a more reasonable alternative seemed to be 'hey how about just leaving town? Running away? Starting life over, some place else?' You see, in political terms as well as human, here in Cincinnati, I was dead. But then in the, probably, the luckiest decision I ever made, I decided 'No! I'm staying put!' I would withstand all the jokes, all the ridicule. I'd pretend it didn't hurt, and I would give every ounce of my being to Cincinnati. 'Why in time,' I was thinking, 'you'd have to like me. Or if not like me, at least respect me.' And I'd run for council even unendorsed. And I'd prove to you I could be the best public servant you ever had, or I'd die trying. Be it as a mayor, an anchor, or a commentator, whatever it took, I was determined to have you know that I was more than a check and a hooker on a one night stand. But something happened along the way. Maybe it's God's way of teaching us. I don't know, but you see? In trying to prove something to you, I learned something about me. I learned that I had fallen in love with you. With Cincinnati. With you who taught me more about life, and caring, and forgiving, and also most importantly, giving. Giving something back. Which is part of the reason… I have been… Excuse me. So sad this week. why… Why it's so hard to say goodbye. God bless you, and goodbye.”

Jerry Springer (1944) American television presenter, former lawyer, politician, news presenter, actor, and musician

his final commentary at NBC's WLWT in Ohio, January 1993
This American Life http://www.thislife.org/pages/descriptions/04/258.html, Ep. 258, 01/30/04, Leaving the Fold; Act One.

Ko Wen-je photo
Jesse Ventura photo
Jesse Ventura photo
Stephen Colbert photo
Louis Brownlow photo
Andy Partridge photo
Richard Holbrooke photo
P.G. Wodehouse photo
Lloyd Kenyon, 1st Baron Kenyon photo
Rahm Emanuel photo
John Shadegg photo

“I apologize for the insensitivity of my remarks with respect to the mayor or his family, however I think it is important to note that this decision involves potential risk to innocent people.”

John Shadegg (1949) American politician

Referring to previous statement on Michael Bloomberg's comments on trying terrorists in criminal courts in NYC.
Quoted in [Rachel, Slajda, http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/shadegg-apologizes-for-saying-nyc-mayors-daughter-could-get-kidnapped.php, Shadegg Apologizes For Saying NYC Mayor's Daughter Could Get Kidnapped, Talking Points Memo, November 17, 2009, 2009-11-17]
Terrorism

Paul Krugman photo
Ai Weiwei photo

“When the mayor of Nagoya denies the Nanjing Massacre, he gets blacklisted by the city of Nanjing. When the government of Sichuan denies “tofu dregs” construction [which caused the collapse of several schools], they get blacklisted by me.”

Ai Weiwei (1957) Chinese concept artist

Ai Weiwei on Twitter in English (beta). (February 26, 2012) http://aiwwenglish.tumblr.com/
2010-, Twitter feeds, 2010-12

Clifford D. Simak photo

““You sound like a rugged individualist,” said Webster.
“You say that like you think it’s funny,” yapped the mayor.
“I do think it’s funny,” said Webster. “Funny, and tragic, that anyone should think that way today.”
“The world would be a lot better off with some rugged individualism,” snapped the mayor. “Look at the men who have gone places—”
“Meaning yourself?” asked Weber.
“You might take me, for example,” Carter agreed. “I worked hard. I took advantage of opportunity. I had some foresight. I did—”
“You mean you licked the correct boots and stepped in the proper faces,” said Webster. “You’re the shining example of the kind of people the world doesn’t want today. You positively smell musty, your ideas are so old. You’re the last of the politicians, Carter, just as I was the last of the Chamber of Commerce secretaries. Only you don’t know it yet. I did. I got out. Even when it cost me something, I got out, because I had to save my self-respect. Your kind of politics is dead. They are dead because any tinhorn with a loud mouth and a brassy front could gain power by appeal to mob psychology. And you haven’t got mob psychology any more. You can’t have mob psychology when people don’t give a damn what happens to a thing that’s dead already—a political system that broke down under its own weight.””

Source: City (1952), Chapter 1, “City” (pp. 34-35)

Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury photo

“Mr Mayor and gentlemen - I have great pleasure in associating myself in how ever humble and transitory manner with this great and splendid undertaking. I am glad to be associated with an enterprise which I hope will carry still further the prosperity and power of Liverpool, and which will carry down the name of Liverpool to posterity as the place where a great mechanical undertaking first found its home. Sir William Forwood has alluded to the share which this city took in the original establishment of railways. My memory does not quite carry me back to the melancholy event by which that opening was signalised, but I can remember that which presents to my mind a strange contrast with the present state of things. Almost the earliest thing I can recollect is being brought down here to my mother's house which is close in the neighbourhood, and we took two days on the road, and had to sleep half way. Comparing that with my journey yesterday I feel what an enormous distance has been traversed in the interval, and perhaps a still larger distance and a still more magnificent rate of progress will be achieved before a similar distance of time has elapsed from the present day. I will not detain you in a room where it is perhaps difficult to hear. Of all my oratorical efforts, the one which I find most difficult to achieve is that of competing with a steam engine. Occasionally you are invited to do it at railway stations, and I know distinguished statesmen who do it with effect, but I think I have never ventured to compete in that line. I will therefore, though with some fear and trembling, fulfil the injunctions of Sir William Forwood, and proceed to handle the electric machinery which is to set this line in motion. I only hope the result will be no different from what he anticipates.”

Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury (1830–1903) British politician

At the opening of the Liverpool Overhead Railway, 4 February 1893. Quoted in the Liverpool Echo of the same day, p. 3
1890s

Clarence Thomas photo
Julius Malema photo

“We have taken a decision that we are going to remove the mayor of PE. Why? Why not [mayor of DA-led Johannesburg] Mashaba, why not Solly [mayor of DA-led Tshwane]? Because the mayor of DA in PE is a white man. So, these people, when you want to hit them hard – go after a white man. They feel a terrible pain, because you have touched a white man. Not because Mashaba and Solly will not be touched, they will be touched, don't worry. But we are starting with this whiteness. We are cutting the throat of whiteness. Trollip will not be a mayor after the 6th of April, if they give us that date.”

Julius Malema (1981) South African political activist

On 4 March 2018, concerning the Nelson Mandela Bay mayor Athol Trollip, at the launch of the EFF's election registration campaign, Standard Bank arena, Johannesburg. Malema Wants Mayor Trollip Out Because He's White http://www.huffingtonpost.co.za/2018/03/04/malema-wants-mayor-trollip-out-because-hes-white_a_23376838/, Politics, Huffpost (4 March 2018)

Harry Chapin photo
Donald J. Trump photo
M.I.A. photo
Frederick Douglass photo

“The world knows that last Monday a meeting assembled to discuss the question: "How Shall Slavery Be Abolished?" The world also knows that that meeting was invaded, insulted, captured by a mob of gentlemen, and thereafter broken up and dispersed by the order of the mayor, who refused to protect it, though called upon to do so. If this had been a mere outbreak of passion and prejudice among the baser sort, maddened by rum and hounded on by some wily politician to serve some immediate purpose, - a mere exceptional affair, - it might be allowed to rest with what has already been said. But the leaders of the mob were gentlemen. They were men who pride themselves upon their respect for law and order. These gentlemen brought their respect for the law with them and proclaimed it loudly while in the very act of breaking the law. Theirs was the law of slavery. The law of free speech and the law for the protection of public meetings they trampled under foot, while they greatly magnified the law of slavery. The scene was an instructive one. Men seldom see such a blending of the gentleman with the rowdy, as was shown on that occasion. It proved that human nature is very much the same, whether in tarpaulin or broadcloth. Nevertheless, when gentlemen approach us in the character of lawless and abandoned loafers, - assuming for the moment their manners and tempers, - they have themselves to blame if they are estimated below their quality.”

Frederick Douglass (1818–1895) American social reformer, orator, writer and statesman

1880s, Plea for Free Speech in Boston (1880)

Mark Satin photo
Ta-Nehisi Coates photo
Mariano Rajoy photo

“It is the neighbor who chooses the mayor and it is the mayor who wants the neighbors the mayor.”

Mariano Rajoy (1955) Spanish politician

2 December, 2015
As President, 2015
Source: Party meeting http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0y4eb0mAikU

P. J. O'Rourke photo
Han Kuo-yu photo
Pete Buttigieg photo

“If anything I think my story might help illustrate why categories aren’t as important as we think. I’m a church-going, gay, millennial, Red State mayor. I’m also a left-handed Maltese American. I also spent Thanksgiving in a deer blind with my partner’s father. So am I supposed to be a Republican or a Democrat?”

Pete Buttigieg (1982) American politician

5 January 2017
Pete Buttigieg: meet the Indiana mayor Barack Obama says could be the future of the Democratic Party
The Telegraph
David Lawler
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/12/31/pete-buttigieg-meet-indiana-mayor-barack-obama-says-could-future/
2017

Ken Livingstone photo
Prem Rawat photo
Boris Johnson photo

“The real hero of Jaws is the mayor. A gigantic fish is eating all your constituents and he decides to keep the beaches open. OK, in that instance he was actually wrong. But in principle, we need more politicians like the mayor - we are often the only obstacle against all the nonsense which is really a massive conspiracy against the taxpayer.”

Boris Johnson (1964) British politician, historian and journalist

Speech given by Johnson at Lloyd's of London in 2006, quoted in * 2007-07-18

Boris Johnson inspired by Jaws mayor

Graeme Wilson and George Jones

The Telegraph

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1557765/Boris-Johnson-inspired-by-Jaws-mayor.html
2000s, 2006

Rodrigo Duterte photo

“Here's what I thought: they raped her, they lined up. I was angry because of the rape, yes, but she was so beautiful, and the mayor should have been first. What a waste.”

Rodrigo Duterte (1945) Filipino politician and the 16th President of the Philippines

Original: (tl) Ang pumasok sa isip ko, ni-rape nila, pinagpilahan nila. Nagalit ako kasi ni-rape, oo, isa rin iyun. Pero napakaganda, dapat ang mayor muna ang mauna. Sayang.

Duterte on Australian rape victim: Napakaganda. Dapat ang mayor ang mauna. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pr-XRWT40Do&t=38 (April 16, 2016)