"We need to ban assault weapons. We need to ban the high-capacity clips and magazines. We need serious background information, system upgrade."
"I'm honored to serve as mayor of my hometown where our founders started America with three simple words: 'We, the people.' And when they said 'people' they didn't mean 'corporations.'"
"In Philadelphia, our public safety, poverty reduction, health and economic development all start with education. We can't grow the middle class if we don't give our kids the tools they need to innovate and invent."
"Our economy grows from the middle out, not the top down."
"We're all in this together. I learned that lesson growing up in West Philly. When I shoveled the sidewalk my parents didn't let me stop with our house. They told me to keep shoveling all the way to the corner. I had a responsibility to my community."
"Mayors could never get away with the kind of nonsense that goes on in Washington. In our world, you either picked up the trash or you didn't. You either moved an abandoned car or you didn't. You either filled a pothole or you didn't. That's what we do every day. And we know how to get this stuff done."
"Part of the problem in politics is that people only look at the next four to eight years: kick the can down the road and say, 'Hey, it's the next person's problem.'"
"We need sensible gun safety measures. The federal government could do something about this; they could show up."
"I got elected as the mayor of Philadelphia and yes I am black. But my responsibility is to all the citizens of the city."
"Yes we need enhanced border control. Yes we need to focus our efforts on those who pose a threat to our country. But let's not fall into the trap set by the Tea Party and others who would tell you that every single undocumented individual is a drug smuggler, a terrorist, or a threat to the American way of life. That is simply not true."
"The computer is your passport, not only to the future but to knowing what's going around you."
"There is no Democratic or Republican way to fill a pothole."
"If you want to act like a butthead, your butt is going to get locked up."
"Parents who neglect their children, who don't know where they are, who don't know what they're doing, who don't know who they're hanging out with, you're gonna find yourselves spending some quality time with your kids, in jail, together."
"A father is a person who's around, participating in a child's life. He's a teacher who helps to guide and shape and mold that young person, someone for that young person to talk to, to share with, their ups and their downs, their fears and their concerns."
"You get respect when you give respect. That's how you get respect."
"What the mayors care about is, 'How can I get money to invest in the infrastructure in my city? How do we put people back to work, lower the unemployment rate, provide for job training programs? How do we make class sizes smaller and make investments in our children from an education standpoint?'"
"I think that when we have a better educated society, when there is less violence in our cities, when people get back into the workforce and have the opportunity to take care of themselves and their families - that for me really is the kind of success and the kind of America that I think most of us still want, we aspire to."
"We are serious about our music here in Philadelphia, and jazz has meant a lot to this city."
"If you have a deep-seated need to be loved and admired every day, you shouldn't be in politics. You should go work at a pet store."
"I believe in the critical importance of participating in the political system - from voting to standing for election. It's both rewarding and necessary that men and women of good will and clear thinking engage in honest, open debate."
"Politics in Philadelphia is a contact sport."
"To succeed in big-city politics requires a powerful, motivating vision of a better world, a plan to get there, a willingness to meet constituents on their terms, and a tough political skin."
"Philadelphians are a gritty, tough people who will help you when you're down."
"Mayors are leaders, doers. We get things done, and we are moving America's cities forward."
