1.
The Devil is easy to identify. He appears when you're terribly tired and makes a very reasonable request which you know you shouldn't grant.
Fiorello H. La Guardia
2.
Only a well-fed, well-housed, well-schooled people can enjoy the blessings of liberty.
Fiorello H. La Guardia
3.
It makes no difference if I burn my bridges behind me - I never retreat.
Fiorello H. La Guardia
4.
God took the beauty of the Bay of Naples, the Valley of the Nile, the Swiss Alps, the Hudson River Valley, rolled them into one and made San Francisco Bay.
Fiorello H. La Guardia
5.
An industry that cannot pay its workers a decent living wage has no right to exist.
Fiorello H. La Guardia
6.
Prohibition cannot be enforced for the simple reason that the majority of American people do not want it enforced and are resisting its enforcement.
Fiorello H. La Guardia
7.
There is no Democratic or Republican way of cleaning the streets.
Fiorello H. La Guardia
8.
My generation has failed miserably. We've failed because of lack of courage and vision. It requires more courage to keep the peace than to go to war.
Fiorello H. La Guardia
9.
I am sorry that the distinguished leader of the Republican Party in the House states that he is not versed in botany and publicly admits that he does not know anything of these terms or what it is all about; but, Mr. Chairman, it is indeed a sad day for the people of this country when we must close the doors of the laboratories doing research work for the people of the United States.
Fiorello H. La Guardia
10.
Politics is very much like taxes - everybody is against them, or everybody is for them as long as they don't apply to him
Fiorello H. La Guardia
11.
I am certain that the good Lord never intended grapes to be made into grape jelly.
Fiorello H. La Guardia
12.
We have had two chickens in every pot, two cars in every garage, and now we have two headaches for every aspirin.
Fiorello H. La Guardia
13.
You cannot preach self-government and liberty to people in a starving land.
Fiorello H. La Guardia
14.
The drys seemingly are afraid of the truth. Why not take inventory and ascertain the true conditions. Let us not leave it to the charge of an antiprohibition organization, or to any other private association, let us have an official survey and let the American people know what is going on. A complete and honest and impartial survey would reveal incredible conditions.
Fiorello H. La Guardia
15.
Science knows no politics. Are we in this frenzy of [the Depression] economy, brought about by those who control the wealth of this country, seeking to put a barrier on science and research for the paltry sum of $39,113 out of an appropriation of $100,000,000?
Fiorello H. La Guardia
16.
When I make a mistake, it's a beauty!
Fiorello H. La Guardia
17.
The most humble research scientist in the Department of Agriculture is at this time contributing more to this country than the most useful member of Congress.
Fiorello H. La Guardia
18.
It is impossible to tell whether prohibition is a good thing or a bad thing. It has never been enforced in this country.
Fiorello H. La Guardia