Mario Matthew Cuomo was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 52nd Governor of New York for three terms, from 1983 to 1994. A member of the Democratic Party, Cuomo previously served as Lieutenant Governor of New York from 1979 to 1982 and Secretary of State of New York from 1975 to 1978. He is the father of current New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and CNN news anchor Chris Cuomo. These Mario Cuomo quotes will motivate you.
Best Mario Cuomo Quotes
- “There are only two rules for being successful. One, figure out exactly what you want to do, and two, do it.” ~ Mario Cuomo
- “The Republicans believe that the wagon train will not make it to the frontier unless some of the old, some of the young, some of the weak are left behind.” ~ Mario Cuomo
- “Outrage is easy, cheap, and oversold. The nation needs less anger and more thoughtful reflection, less shouting and more listening, less dissembling and more honesty.” ~ Mario Cuomo
- “I watched a small man with thick calluses on both hands work 15 and 16 hours a day. I saw him once literally bleed from the bottoms of his feet, a man who came here uneducated, alone, unable to speak the language, who taught me all I needed to know about faith and hard work by the simple eloquence of his example.” ~ Mario Cuomo
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“Democracy is not meant to be efficient, it is meant to be fair.” ~ Mario Cuomo
- “Those two principles: We’re supposed to love one another and we’re supposed to work together to make the experience better. That’s all the religion you need, really, to make a success of this planet.” ~ Mario Cuomo
- “I have no plans, and no plans to plan.” ~ Mario Cuomo
- “I talk and talk and talk, and I haven’t taught people in 50 years what
my father taught by example in one week.” ~ Mario Cuomo - “We believe in a government strong enough to use words like “love” and “compassion” and smart enough to convert our noblest aspirations into practical realities.” ~ Mario Cuomo
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“You campaign in poetry. You govern in prose.” ~ Mario Cuomo
- “Every time I’ve done something that doesn’t feel right, it’s ended up not being right.” ~ Mario Cuomo
- “We must get the American public to look past the glitter, beyond the showmanship, to the reality, the hard substance of things. And we’ll do it not so much with speeches that will bring people to their feet as with speeches that bring people to their senses.” ~ Mario Cuomo
- “It is not a government’s obligation to provide services, but to see that they are provided.” ~ Mario Cuomo
- “The problems of a retired schoolteacher in Duluth are OUR problems. That the future of the child in Buffalo is OUR future. That the struggle of a disabled man in Boston to survive and live decently is OUR struggle. That The hunger of a woman in Little Rock is OUR hunger. That the failure anywhere to provide what reasonably we might to avoid pain is OUR failure.” ~ Mario Cuomo
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“People asked me what I want as an epitaph: ‘He tried'” ~ Mario Cuomo
- “We believe in a government that is characterized by fairness and reasonableness, a reasonableness that goes beyond labels, that doesn’t distort or promise to do things that we know we can’t do.” ~ Mario Cuomo
- “Most of us have achieved levels of affluence and comfort unthought of two generations ago. We’ve never had it so good, most of us. Nor have we ever complained so bitterly about our problems.” ~ Mario Cuomo
- “It’s an old story; it’s as old as our history. The difference between Democrats and Republicans has always been measured in courage and confidence. The Republicans believe that the wagon train will not make it to the frontier unless some of the old, some of the young, some of the weak, are left behind by the side of the trail. The strong, the strong they tell us, will inherit the land. We, Democrats, believe in something else. We Democrats believe that we can make it all the way with the whole family intact, and we have more than once.” ~ Mario Cuomo
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“The price of seeking to force our beliefs on others is that someday they might force their beliefs on us.” ~ Mario Cuomo
- “We believe in encouraging the talented, but we believe that while survival of the fittest may be a good working description of the process of evolution, a government of humans should elevate itself to a higher order.” ~ Mario Cuomo
- “If you can manipulate news, a judge can manipulate the law. A smart lawyer can keep a killer out of jail, a smart accountant can keep a thief from paying taxes, a smart reporter could ruin your reputation – unfairly.” ~ Mario Cuomo
- “What I didn’t do was pick one thing and keep saying it over and over again, so I could have gotten credit for it.” ~ Mario Cuomo
- “There are some who ask us to believe that if we want the best of times for ourselves, the fit and the fortunate, then we’ll just have to learn to live with the worst of times for millions of other Americans – that we’re doomed to be a nation of the lucky and the left-out. I don’t believe it. My mother didn’t believe it. Your ancestors didn’t believe it. And I don’t think you should believe it.” ~ Mario Cuomo
- “In this life, you should read everything you can read. Taste everything you can taste. Meet everyone you can meet. Travel everywhere you can travel. Learn everything you can learn. Experience everything you can experience.” ~ Mario Cuomo
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“Decide exactly what you want to achieve. Do you want to help people, or do you want to be powerful?” ~ Mario Cuomo
- “For me to make lasagna would be a desecration of a great Italian dish. . . . I don’t mess with sacred things.” ~ Mario Cuomo
- “In 1960 Americans chose John F. Kennedy because they were ready for change. They were ready for new and better ideas. After six years of scandals and failed policies under the Reagan Administration, Americans are again ready for change and stronger leadership. I love my country. That is why I am seeking the Democratic nomination for president.” ~ Mario Cuomo
- “There are few things more amusing in the world of politics than watching moderate Republicans charging to the right in pursuit of greater glory.” ~ Mario Cuomo
- “I protect my right to be a Catholic by preserving your right to believe as a Jew, a Protestant, or non-believer, or as anything else you choose. We know that the price of seeking to force our beliefs on others is that they might some day force theirs on us.” ~ Mario Cuomo
- “A shining city is perhaps all the president sees from the portico of the White House and the veranda of his ranch, where everyone seems to be doing well. But there’s another part to the shining city. In this part of the city there are more poor than ever, more families in trouble, more and more people who need help but can’t find it.” ~ Mario Cuomo
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“I said I didn’t want to run for president. I didn’t ask you to believe me.” ~ Mario Cuomo
- “When you’ve parked the second car in the garage, and installed the hot tub, and skied in Colorado, and wind-surfed in the Caribbean, when you’ve had your first love affair and your second and your third, the question will remain, where does the dream end for me?” ~ Mario Cuomo
- “The values derived from religious belief will not – and should not – be accepted as part of the public morality unless they are shared by the pluralistic community at large, by consensus.” ~ Mario Cuomo
- “We work harder and we earn less. Income inequality is at the highest point in over a century. While American capitalism never guaranteed success, it did guarantee opportunity, for too many, the dream of economic mobility has been replaced with a nightmare of economic stagnation.” ~ Mario Cuomo
- “I think it’s already apparent that a good part of this Nation understands – if only instinctively – that anything which seems to suggest that God favors a political party or the establishment of a state church, is wrong and dangerous.” ~ Mario Cuomo
- “The truth is the justice system does need review, there are troubling questions that need to be answered, law enforcement needs to respect the community and the community needs to respect law enforcement.” ~ Mario Cuomo
- “I told them that my grandfather had died in the Great Crash of 1929 – a stockbroker jumped out of a window and crushed him and his pushcart down below.” ~ Mario Cuomo
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“I somehow got this reputation of diddling and dithering. I don’t remember dithering at all.” ~ Mario Cuomo
- “It’s a Little Leaguers game that major leaguers play extraordinarily well, a game that excites us throughout adulthood. The crack of the bat and the scent of the horsehide on leather bring back our own memories that have been washed away with the sweat and tears of summers long gone…even as the setting sun pushes the shadows past home plate.” ~ Mario Cuomo
- “Way down deep the American people are afraid of an entangling relationship between formal religions – or whole bodies of religious belief – and government.” ~ Mario Cuomo quotes
- “The American people need no course in philosophy or political science or church history to know that God should not be made into a celestial party chairman.” ~ Mario Cuomo
- “Entertainers and sports figures achieve fame and wealth but find the world empty and dull without the solace and stimulation of drugs.” ~ Mario Cuomo
- “Wes Clark is a man of whom you can ask a question, and he will look you directly in the eye, and give you the most truthful and complete answer you can imagine. You will know the absolute truth of the statement as well as the thought process behind the answer. You will have no doubt as to the intellect of the speaker and meaning of the answer to this question…So you can see, as a politician, he has a lot to learn.” ~ Mario Cuomo
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“We believe in only the government we need, but we insist on all the government we need.” ~ Mario Cuomo
- “The American people need no course in philosophy or political science or church history to know that God should not be made into a celestial party chairman. To most of us, the manipulative invoking of religion to advance a politician or a party is frightening and divisive. The American people will tolerate religious leaders taking positions for or against candidates.” ~ Mario Cuomo
- “The closed circle of materialism is clear to us now – aspirations become wants, wants become needs, and self-gratification becomes a bottomless pit.” ~ Mario Cuomo
- “The mugger who is arrested is back on the street before the police officer, but the person mugged may not be back on the street for a long time, if ever.” ~ Mario Cuomo
- “People expect Byzantine, Machiavellian logic from politicians. But the truth is simple. Trial lawyers learn a good rule: ‘Don’t decide what you don’t have to decide.’ That’s not evasion, it’s wisdom.” ~ Mario Cuomo
- “You will not be able to tell that they are capable of greatness until you provide them with a packed house, a 3-and-2 count and the game is on the line.” ~ Mario Cuomo
- “In the end, I’m convinced we will all benefit if suspicion is replaced by discussion, innuendo by dialogue; if the emphasis in our debate turns from a search for talismanic criteria and neat but simplistic answers to an honest – more intelligent – attempt at describing the role religion has in our public affairs, and the limits placed on that role.” ~ Mario Cuomo
