Quotes from Ruth Westheimer

I lived, while 1 1/2 million Jewish children died. So I have an obligation to repair the world.

Luckily for me, I don't depend on seeing every patient who comes through my door to pay the rent, and so if someone is involved in an activity that I don't like, I just don't accept that person as a client.

There will always be issues where an abortion is necessary.

I went to an Orthodox Jewish children's home that became an orphanage.

If someone has gone through a lot of emotional pain, including the loss of loved ones, that person may try to build a shell around his or her feelings to protect him- or herself from the pain.

I hear you younger people saying how many friends they have on the Internet. That's nonsense. That's not friends, that's acquaintances. The word 'friendship' has lost its significance.

I think I was fortunate that even in the children's home I had a boyfriend. How important it was, as an orphan at the age of 12, to be caressed and to be kissed and to know that there is someone who really deeply cared about me.

Every person has to be respected.

Many of the girls who were in the orphanage with me became either nurses or social workers.

I want to be like Madame de Stael.

I'm never embarrassed to say, 'I don't know.'

If Congress wants to get involved in the business of morality by allowing a moment of silence in our schools, I support that. But if our representatives in Washington are truly going to be moral leaders, then they have to do more than just tell us to pray for guidance.