"My mother had a saying: 'Kamala, you may be the first to do many things, but make sure you're not the last.'"
"I'm opposed to any policy that would deny in our country any human being from access to public safety, public education, or public health, period."
"I want to use my position of leadership to help move along at a faster pace what I believe and know the Obama administration wants to do around the urgency of climate change."
"Generally speaking, the public appetite for criminal justice policy is just tough talk."
"What we all want is public safety. We don't want rhetoric that's framed through ideology."
"To change criminal justice policy in any meaningful way means to propose changing a very longstanding system. It's not realistic to think you can do it overnight."
"I've had the good fortune and blessing to run for the offices for which I really wanted to do the work."
"I'm one of the luckiest people on earth."
"What's important for my daughter to know is that... if you are fortunate to have opportunity, it is your duty to make sure other people have those opportunities as well."
"My parents met when they were graduate students at UC Berkeley in the 1960s. They were both active in the civil-rights movement."
"These days, children can text on their cell phone all night long, and no one else is seeing that phone. You don't know who is calling that child."
"I think Hillary Clinton could do whatever she puts her mind to. I really do. She's incredibly dedicated to public service, she is smart as a whip, and she's effective."
"People who work for me know that family comes first. And I'm fortunate to have a family that is very supportive of the work I do, so I don't have to live two separate lives."
"I have loved to cook since I was a child in my mother's kitchen. If I don't have time to cook, I'll just read a cookbook."
"I love being in a courtroom."
"I think I have every piece of music Bob Marley ever made."
"I convened the first-ever national training conference for prosecutors on how to promote and deal with hate crime issues in terms of prosecutions and also protocol for defeating the gay panic defense."
"We don't want to promote any system that treats the fact that an individual is LGBT as a personality disorder. And anything that perpetuates that perception is harmful - not only to that member of the community but the entire community."
"My mother was and will always remain my greatest hero."
"'Getting smart on crime' does not mean reducing sentences or punishments for crimes."
"I strongly believe that for serious and violent criminals, we must absolutely hold them accountable for their crimes and send them to prison."
"I believe that a child going without an education is a crime."
"I was raised to be an independent woman, not the victim of anything."
"Running for office is similar to being a trial lawyer in a very long trial. It requires adrenaline and stamina; it requires being in shape mentally and emotionally. It's a marathon."
"So many people trip in front of them because they're looking over there or up ahead."
