Kwasi Mifume Quotes

The cynic says, 'One man can't do anything.' I say, 'Only one man can do anything.'

I think that we as a people are always prone to think about, well, tomorrow will be a better day. Well, why will it be a better day? And I think the more that we believe in doing things better, doing the right thing rather than hoping that that's going to happen, let's make it happen.

Having seen my mom in community volunteer work my whole life and in Congress for 25 years, it is true as she often says that she sees her service as an extension of her role as a mother and a grandmother.

I am proud to represent people who care so deeply about their communities. Their perseverance and strength only motivates me more as their representative in Congress.

I was listening to the guy that represented me in the state Senate, and I just got really frustrated. I called my wife and said, 'I've always wanted to do something that makes a difference.' So I ended up running and won.

Thank you to the readers of the 'Huffington Post' for voting me the 'Hottest Freshman' of the 111th Congress. It's about time politicians from Illinois were known for something other than bad haircuts or having the ability to walk on water.

Solutions-oriented campaigning with a little passion and a little humor; I think that will go a long way. I think people are desperate for it.

And the funny thing is, I've always been an optimist - it's practically a congenital disorder with me.

What I'm asking for is hard. It's easier to be cynical; to accept that change isn't possible, and politics is hopeless, and to believe that our voices and actions don't matter. But if we give up now, then we forsake a better future.

It's important that I make a difference in some way. It's not necessarily how I make a difference, but I want to make sure that I do.

I'm not that interesting!

There was so much that you could do, instead of looking for things that you couldn't do.

Let everything you do be done as if it makes a difference.

Kids deserve the right to think that they can change the world.

I don't know if you can change things, but it's a drop in the ocean.

Maybe I'm delusional but I'm usually funny. It's not 100% but I have a pretty good batting average.

You have to believe 100 percent in what you're doing, that some picture or some thing we do is going to change the world in some tiny, minute way.

Politicians are probably the most underrated people in our society.

I recall my dad saying about me once that the only time he'd ever heard me say 'never' was when I was asked if I'd had enough.

My grandmother didn't live to see us begin our lives in public service. But she probably would have thought it extraordinary that just two generations after she arrived in San Antonio, one grandson would be the mayor and the other would be on his way - the good people of San Antonio willing- to the United States Congress.

My father was in Congress when I was born. He was mayor my whole life from when I was in grade school - first grade - to when I went away to college.

It's your outlook on life that counts. If you take yourself lightly and don't take yourself too seriously, pretty soon you can find the humor in our everyday lives. And sometimes it can be a lifesaver.

Every time I would give a talk, someone would say, 'You ought to go into politics.' I prefer to call it government leadership. My life has taken me to places where I have experiences that I think I can share. A lot of times, we see people who are career politicians. I'm not the conventional candidate, nor do I want to be.

I think the future also will not belong to those who are cynical or those who stand on the sidelines.

I am an optimist. How else could I have stayed in the Congress for nine terms?