I lived in Burma for a couple of summers in the '90s, working with the democratic resistance that had fled to the jungles.

Ninety-five percent of my work is being mayor. But that 5% that nags at all of us - of what's going wrong in this country - I think is best thought out not in your own head but by getting out there, being out there, and listening to Americans.

I think everyone has the impression that L.A. is Hollywood and fast lives. That couldn't be further from the truth.

In Washington, you have imaginary problems, and they can't even solve the imaginary problems.

The travel that I've spent around the country, I always come back with ideas for L.A. and vice versa: My experiences in L.A. give me an immediacy to issues that sometimes people in Washington think about but aren't experiencing every day.

There are two Americas: Washington and the rest of us.

The Olympics have been an amazing part of Los Angeles' history. In many ways in 1932, they put us on the map when people didn't even know where Los Angeles was. In 1984, they were the first profitable Olympics of the modern era.

I'm very much a California boy. I try to eat healthy and exercise.

I'm the grandson of immigrants who came across rivers and oceans to get here, some without documentation.

You have to listen to your own heart.

Most people will be primarily getting into autonomous vehicles if we look 20, 30 years out. If we mandate that autonomous vehicles have to be electric, then we will move people into electric vehicles.

Mayors are accountable. Local governments are accountable.

It sure would be nice to have a Washington that was there for us, but most help has always been local and regional.

I've always said we need to build resilience locally.

I'm progressive, and I'm practical.

The classic rules of American politics are dying, if not dead, if you look at the last two presidential elections. An African-American could never be president until one was; a TV reality star couldn't become president until one was.

I think connected to poverty is the trauma of poverty. It's not just a material thing; it's a psychological thing that we have no mental health system in this country.

I think, for me, the biggest issue is poverty in general, poverty in this time of plenty. It's reflected in homelessness. It's reflected in educational gaps. It's reflected in racial disparities.

Don't run for mayor if you don't want to basically be working all the time.

I don't spend much time on the computer at all, so I do most of my email on my phone if I do any at all.

The cost of housing in L.A. has increased dramatically because more people want to live here. They come to Los Angeles every day, not just from around the United States but from around the world.

I don't want to bring a European city or an east-coast city to the West Coast.

People will give you the responsibility, even the authority, to go after the big things, the visionary things, the reaching for incredible opportunities, if they trust that you're running a city well. And if you don't run a city well, conversely, you can't do the big things.

I am a passionate, committed composer, and the guy I used to write musicals with, once he was able to ditch me and get a better composer, actually won the Tony.