"We need laws that protect everyone. Men and women, straights and gays, regardless of sexual perversion...ah, persuasion." - Bella Abzug

"I am a great mayor. I am an upstanding Christian man. I am an intelligent man. I am a deeply educated man. I am a humble man." - Marion Barry

"Outside of the killings, Washington [D.C.] actually has a very low crime rate." - Marion Barry

"What right does Congress have to go around making laws just because they deem it necessary?" - Marion Barry

"I'm one of those mayors whose management style is to allow free and unlimited debate, to a point." - Marion Barry

"I promise you a police car on every sidewalk." - Marion Barry

"The laws in this city are clearly racist. All laws are racist. The law of gravity is racist." - Marion Barry

"I am not the leader of Washington. I am not the business leader of Washington. I am not the spiritual leader of Washington. I am not the civic leader of Washington. I am not the social leader of Washington. I am the political leader of Washington. That's where my responsibility ends." - Marion Barry

"People blame me because these water main break, but I ask you: If the water mains didn't break, would it be my responsibility to fix them? Would it? - Marion Barry

"Charity is taking an ugly girl to lunch." - Warren Beatty

"Those who survived the San Francisco earthquake said, 'Thank God, I'm still alive.' But, of course, those who died - their lives will never be the same again." - Barbara Boxer

"If elected, there will never be another winter in Iowa! Let the word go forth!" - Bill Bradley

"There are no issues. My opponent has a job and I want it. That's what this election is about." - William Bulow

"I am speaking of a great man who should have been president and would have been one of the greatest presidents in history: Hubert Horatio Hornblower." - Jimmy Carter

"I hope that history will present me with maybe two words. One is peace. The other is human rights." - Jimmy Carter

"Being president is like running a cemetery: You've got a lot of people under you, and nobody's listening." - Bill Clinton

"I'm someone who has a deep emotional attachment to Starsky and Hutch." - Bill Clinton

"I don't necessarily consider McDonald's junk food." - Bill Clinton

"Last year, the vice president launched a new effort to help make communities more liberal." - Bill Clinton, meaning to say 'livable'

"Wouldn't it be sad to have an Internet connection if there's no Martians to write to?" - Bill Clinton

"You know, if I were a single man, I might ask that mummy out. That's a good-looking mummy." - Bill Clinton

"Politics gives guys so much power that they tend to behave badly around women. And I hope I never get into that." - Bill Clinton

"Give Bill a second term, and Al Gore and I will be turned loose to do what we really want to do." - Hillary Rodham Clinton

"I thought you were real people." - Hillary Rodham Clinton, finding that only reporters were at a reception

"Rodman. Rodham. Are we related?" - Hillary Rodham Clinton, to Dennis Rodman

"Women prefer Democrats to men." - Tony Coelho

"They have slandered me, they have castigated me, they have vilified me, yes, they have even criticized me." - Richard J. Daley

"We have been boyhood friends all our lives." - Richard J. Daley

"The police are not here to create disorder. They're here to preserve disorder." - Richard J. Daley

"That is unreasonable reasoning." - Richard J. Daley

"I resent your insinuendos." - Richard J. Daley

"I haven't committed a crime. What I did was fail to comply with the law." - David Dinkins

"Eight more days and I can start telling you the truth again. It's killing me, I'll tell you." - Christopher Dodd

"During my service in the U.S. Congress, I took the initiative in creating the internet." - Al Gore

"That Michael Jackson is unbelievable, isn't he? He's just unbelievable." - Al Gore, watching Michael Jordan play

"Machismo gracias." - Al Gore, saying 'manliness thanks' instead of 'many thanks'

"The only way we'll ever get a volunteer army is to draft 'em." - F. Edward Hebert

"If ignorance ever goes to forty dollars a barrel, I want drilling rights on George Bush's head." - Jim Hightower

"I like Bill Clinton. Do I think he's a total idiot? Yes." - Harold Ickes

"Gerald Ford is a nice guy, but he played too much football with his helmet off." - Lyndon Johnson

"You pissed on my rug." - Lyndon Johnson

"She's a wonderful, wonderful person, and we're looking to a happy and wonderful night - ah, life." - Ted Kennedy

"Old people have a duty to die and get out of the way." - Richard Lamm

"I want to thank each and every one of you for having extinguished yourselves this session." - Gib Lewis

"This is unparalyzed in the state's history." - Gib Lewis

"This legislation has far-reaching ramifistations." - Gib Lewis

"I cannot tell you how grateful I am -- I am filled with humidity." - Gib Lewis

"And now, will y'all stand up and be recognized." - Gib Lewis, to a group of handicapped people in wheelchairs

"Most people, when they look to the skies, see friend or foe. Not me. I see intergalactic tourists." - Bob Miller

"Democrats did very well in Democratic primaries." - Dee Dee Myers

"I always wait until a jury has spoken before I anticipate what they will do." - Janet Reno

"I believe we are going to get along very well with [Joseph Stalin] and the Russian people - very well indeed." - Franklin Delano Roosevelt

"Maine is a good location for a nuclear power plant - where the damn thing could have an accident and not hurt anybody" - John Silber

"I don't want to go around shaking hands and having babies pee on me." - Barbra Streisand

"I've always thought that underpopulated countries in Africa are vastly underpolluted." - Lawrence Summers

"I like Stalin. He is straightforward." - Harry Truman

"He's trying to take the decision out of the hands of twelve honest men and give it to 435 congressmen!" - Charles Vanik

"A black man voting for the Republicans makes as much sense as a chicken voting for Colonel Sanders." - J.C. Watts, Sr.

"The first black president will be a politician who is black." - Doug Wilder