George Washington Plunkitt

"Oh, yes, that is a good way to do up the so-called bosses, but have you ever thought what would become of the country if the bosses were put out of business, and their places were taken by a lot of ca…"

"The time is comin’ and though I’m no youngster, I may see it, when New York City will break away from the State and become a state itself."

"If I have a good thing to hand out in private life, I give it to a friend. Why shouldn’t I do the same in public life?"

"The Wall Street banker thinks it shameful to raise a department clerk’s salary from $1500 to $1800 a year, but every man who draws a salary himself says: “That’s all right. I wish it was me.” And he f…"

"It’s because a Brooklynite is a natural-born hayseed, and can never become a real New Yorker."

"The Democratic party of the nation ain’t dead, though it’s been givin’ a lifelike imitation of a corpse for several years."

"How nice it is for the people to feel that they can get up in the mornin’ without bein’ afraid of seein’ in the papers that the Commissioner of Water Supply has sandbagged the Dock Commissioner, and t…"

"I know more than one young man in past years who worked for the ticket and was just overflowin’ with patriotism, but when he was knocked out by the civil service humbug he got to hate his country and …"