Marion Barry Quotations

I've gone through the Civil Rights Movement. I've seen courts and mayors and white people do things, you turn your back and they undo it. And we don't need that ... so I speak a little different about it. I've experienced this kind of double-dealing, and I'm not going to take it anymore.

Our neighbors in Virginia are just as responsible for these killings as the criminals are because they won't pass strong gun [control] legislation.

What right does Congress have to go around making laws just because they deem it necessary?

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.

My personal view is very simple: What happens in your bedroom, it's up to you. If you want to use gay marriage as an affectionate kind of thing you're doing, do it.

Jesse ain't running nothin' but his mouth.

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.

My greatest work comes in the community.

I have to admit I didn't do as much as I should have back when I was mayor, but now we're getting it done. It's not where you've been but where you're going.

We got to do something about these Asians coming in and opening up business and dirty shops. They ought to go.