Civic Leadership Quotes

Obviously as a mayor, I'm in competition with my neighboring cities as well as cities around the country.

Mr. Mayor. I've decided the best place for the '68 [Democratic] convention is Chicago! You are the one who can handle it!

As mayor of San Francisco, I will provide the vision and work hard to make San Francisco a beautiful, well-planned city with excellent housing and transportation options.

Mayors of cities have the political position to really change people’s lives.

I believe we must go further in redefining what United's corporate citizenship looks like in our society... and we intend to live up to those higher expectations in the way we embody social responsibility and civic leadership everywhere we operate.

Mayors of New York have been elected not because of their party label, but because of their philosophy and their approach overall, and that has been since time immemoriam in New York, that people are not party-oriented in New York.

My legacy as governor was UConn and the cities. This is my passion. When I was governor, I would call Waterbury the center of the universe.

I think Detroit is already providing a model for change in the world. I think that Detroit - I mean, people come from all over the world come to see what we're doing. People are looking for a new way of living.

I think that I'll always remember the bust of Dr. [Martin Luther] King. I thought having an American here who represented rhat civic spirit that got me into this [president] office was useful.

In a healthy republic, there is a need for figures who understand that the presidency is not the be-all and end-all of the people.

Being the mayor of the third largest city in the country, that's humbling, but it also gives me incredible hope.

My fight isn't with Charlie Hales. My fight is with the problems he has failed to address as mayor.

The bottom line is that we have entered an age when local communities need to invest in themselves. Federal and state dollars are becoming more and more scarce for American cities. Political and civic leaders in local communities need to make a compelling case for this investment.

The mayoral mentality is incredibly valuable. I don't want to lose that.

People will give you the responsibility, even the authority, to go after the big things, the visionary things, the reaching for incredible opportunities, if they trust that you're running a city well. And if you don't run a city well, conversely, you can't do the big things.

I've been hearing from people saying they see me more than they do their city council member.

We need to encourage young women to run for office and become civic leaders in their own communities.

I'm not interested in being Don Quixote. I'm interested in running the City of New York.

We can make mayors and officers every year, but not scholars.

I believe to be a leader is to enable others to embrace a vision, initiative or assignment in a way that they feel a sense of purpose, ownership, personal engagement, and common cause. I was very affected as a child by my father's positive example as a civic leader who inspired others to share his commitment to improving our community.

Wellington Webb was one of the most significant mayors of the latter half of the 20th century. His natural political instincts are almost unrivaled.

Detroit's really important to the success of our state. You know, you can't have a successful Michigan if the biggest city isn't a success as well.

The orator is the mouth (os) of a nation.

The true privilege of being Mayor is that I have the opportunity to be everyone's neighbor.

Instead of doing what everybody else does and sue the city of Los Angeles, I decided I was going to run for mayor.