The knife of corruption endangered the life of New York City. The scalpel of the law is making us well again.
Interpretation
Corruption harms society, but the justice system can heal it.
Ed Koch's quote emphasizes the detrimental impact of corruption on society, likening it to a knife that threatens the very fabric of a city like New York. He contrasts this harm with the healing power of law and justice, suggesting that through proper legal measures, a community can recover and thrive again.
In practice
During a speech on community safety, one might say this quote to emphasize the importance of law enforcement.
No, I am not a homosexual. If I were a homosexual, I would hope I would have the courage to say so. What's cruel is that you are forcing me to say I am not a homosexual. This means you are putting homosexuals down. I don't want to do that.
In a neighborhood, as in life, a clean bandage is much, much better than a raw or festering wound.
Have confidence in your decisions. Make them expeditiously, and stay with them as long as you believe you are correct no matter what others say. However, when you conclude you were in error, do not hesitate to announce the error publicly and change course.
I was not afraid of the press or the militants. It was uncomfortable, but I was not afraid. With respect to the press, I knew I knew more than they knew about city matters. With respect to the militants, I understood it. I mean, everybody believed in those days that they were being screwed, you know, that somebody was getting ahead of them.
Lunatics have no age. If we were crazy, you and I, we might be a great deal younger.
He (the sage) wants all things to follow their own nature, but dares not act.
We kill each other over which name to call the Nameless.
Adversity is the state in which man most easily becomes acquainted with himself, being especially free of admirers then.
The truth about childhood, as many of us have had to endure it, is inconceivable, scandalous, painful. Not uncommonly, it is monstrous. Invariably, it is repressed. To be confronted with this truth all at once and to try to integrate it into our consciousness, however ardently we may wish it, is clearly impossible.
The United States has the power to destroy the world, but not the power to save it alone
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