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14 Marion Barry Quotes

Marion Barry gives plain-spoken, gritty takes on power, politics and leadership.

Marion Barry quotes

  1. Goddamn bitch set me up!

    #1

  2. Outside of the killings, DC has one of the lowest crime rates in the country.

    #2

  3. They made all this up to justify questioning me. It's all made up. I don't know what happened. Whatever they say was all made up.

    #3

  4. There is a sort of an unwritten code in Washington, among the underworld and the hustlers and these other guys that I am their friend.

    #4

  5. People have criticized me because my security detail is larger than the president's. But you must ask yourself: are there more people who want to kill me than who want to kill the president? I can assure you there are.

    #5

  6. What right does Congress have to go around making laws just because it deems it necessary?

    #6

  7. I am a great mayor. I am an upstanding Christian man. I am an intelligent man. I am a deeply educated man. I am a humble man.

    #7

  8. I am one of those mayors whose management style is to allow free and unlimited debate, to a point.

    #8

  9. The laws of this city are clearly racist. All laws are racist. The law of gravity is racist.

    #9

  10. I am Mayor For Life.

    #10

  11. The brave men who died in Vietnam, more than 100% of which were black, were the ultimate sacrifice.

    #11

  12. I promise you a police car on every sidewalk.

    #12

  13. I am clearly more popular than Reagan. I am in my third term. Where's Reagan? Gone after two! Defeated by George Bush and Michael Dukakis no less.

    #13

  14. I am making this trip to Africa because Washington is an international city, just like Tokyo, Nigeria or Israel. As mayor, I am an international symbol. Can you deny that to Africa?

    #14