Quotes from Michael Capuano

You can disagree with somebody and still think they're qualified.

I've never been good at raising money.

Sincerity with innocence, though cute, though it makes good movies, makes for very bad government.

All government is a mess. Democracy is always messy. It's meant to be messy because smooth, thoughtful, precise, effective government leads to dictatorship. Don't get me wrong, dictatorship is fine - as long as I'm the dictator. But if you're not the dictator, not so good.

No one likes to lose. Having been a person who's lost elections, it's not a fun thing to do and some people react by denying the facts of the situation.

When I was growing up, the harbor was a place to dump things.

Politicians try to see the world through other people's lenses and try to bring people together so that we can have a mutual view of the world - and how do we work together, not from the individual views that we all have.

Ted Kennedy was in the Senate for 40 years. Tip O'Neill for 35 years. John Kerry in the Senate for 30 some odd years. It does take time to become effective.

I really wish everyone at the age of 18 would register and would vote.

I am deeply disappointed in the way President-elect Trump attacked Rep. John Lewis, a personal friend and hero to so many Americans.

We are not going to repeal Obamacare.

I've been left to wonder if it's the national Republican Party Scott Brown represents, or the people of Massachusetts? Let me add that I believe it's a fair question to ask of any of us, Republican or Democrat, who have the privilege of being sent to Washington.

I am as pro-immigrant as you can get, I believe America needs immigrants. But I also believe in strong borders.

It's great to want to go from point A to point B, sometimes you just can't make that and I just think Bernie will not be able to implement most of what he says he wants to do.

I think it's awfully difficult on the most important issues of the day... to remain silent, particularly when you've won a statewide election.

When I say infrastructure it's not just roads and bridges and subways - it's also housing. It's also schools and fire departments and water departments and sewer departments. That's all infrastructure and it's all important. Little by little this country is crumbling and everyone knows it.

There's nothing wrong with new blood, but it has to be balanced as well with people that have been around that know the history of what's happened, know the internal relationships between people, know what you can do and what you can't do.

In communities all over the country, commuters put up with heavy traffic and aging transit systems because they don't really have a choice. People need to get to work, bring their children to day care or school, care for an aging parent or simply attend to a few errands.

We all rely on our infrastructure system even if we don't own a car or use public transportation. It impacts our economy and our quality of life. It is a key component of addressing inequality as well as creating a level playing field for all Americans and a pathway to sustainability.

There is one funding suggestion that should be part of any transportation discussion, but most people don't want to talk about it - raising the gas tax.

I don't measure people by whether they agree with me or not. I measure them by their sincerity. Sincerity, with as much reality as you can get. Sincerity with toughness, experience, and understanding of the issue - real understanding, not just academic and intellectual understanding. That takes some courage.

If Harvard has a smaller endowment, they are less likely to build a building. And that hurts my construction industry, that hurts my financial services industry.

In junior high, some would've seen me as a professional, a lawyer, a doctor, an engineer. Others would've seen me in jail. All depends on who you talked to.

You can go on for days naming former elected officials who are now in the private sector getting paid lots of money for speeches.