Chirlane McCray

I like to go to the subway and hear what people are thinking and feeling and what their concerns are. You learn so much that way. You really do.

Finding the right person can be so hard that often, when a person finally finds someone she or he is comfortable with, she or he just makes it work.

Black women do not have as many positive images in the media as we should.

Telling my story has not been easy for me. I've had to dredge up memories I would have rather forgotten. The lonely, anxiety-ridden months I avoided others, attempting to hide from interrogations about my social life.

Bad mother' is probably the worst thing you can say to any woman who has children.

I wish I had more time to read.

It's really hard to get enough sleep, so I try to end my days by 9 P.M. so my husband and I have time to watch TV, chat, and then I like to read for at least half an hour before bed, but we have a lot of events, and there are places to go and people to talk to.

Pay equity matters because those dollars add up over time.

Some people are just quiet - they don't need to be talking all the time and aren't extroverted, but they're not necessarily afraid to talk. I'm not really a shy person.

Government is not just about maintaining the status quo. It's about helping people's lives to work.

I went to Wellesley College, and it was really hard for me to get a job after I graduated. I would go into places where I would not see any black people at all in Boston - like, zero. And then in publishing in New York City, it was pretty much the same. I knew that it wasn't about the value of my work.

It's tough to be a mother. At any age. It's tough. It's a lot of work.