* On self-respect: "You punch me, I punch back. I do not believe it's good for one's self-respect to be a punching bag."
* To reporters, at a 1986 press conference: "There's been corruption, as I've said on so many occasions, since Adam and Eve and the two gorillas who came before them. Some of you may be corrupt!"
* During the 1980 transit strike, as commuters walked over the Brooklyn Bridge: “We're not going to let these bastards bring us to our knees!”
* After his inauguration in 1978: “I’m the sort of person who will never get ulcers. Why? Because I say exactly what I think. I’m the sort of person who might give other people ulcers.”
* On Donald Trump, during a development dispute: "Piggy, piggy, piggy." Trump responded that Koch was a "moron."
* On his sexuality: "What do I care? I’m 73 years old. I find it fascinating that people are interested in my sex life at age 73. It’s rather complimentary! But as I say in my book, my answer to questions on this subject is simply F--- off. There have to be some private matters left."
* To Playboy, in an interview that may have cost him the governorship in 1982: "Have you ever lived in the suburbs? I haven't, but I've talked to people who have, and it's sterile. It's nothing. It's wasting your life … This rural American thing -- I'm telling you, it's a joke."
* His catchphrase: “How’m I doing?”
* And on dying: “I had a conversation with God: ‘Take me totally or don’t take me. No salami tactics.’ He’s been very good about it.”
Rest in peace, Ed Koch.