Top 128 Quotes & Sayings by Ruth Westheimer

In 1947 and '48, everybody in then-Palestine belonged to some group. I chose the group that was the forerunner of the Israel Defense Forces.

When I was in Switzerland, I still had the fantasy I could have saved my parents and family if I'd stayed in Germany. All nonsense. If they had not made the sacrifice to send their only child to Switzerland, I wouldn't be alive.

I learned to assemble a rifle in the dark and was trained as a sniper so that I could hit the center of the target time after time. As it happened, I never did get into actual combat, but that didn't prevent my being severely wounded. I almost lost both my feet as a result of a bombing attack on Jerusalem.

When I started the radio program in 1981, not many people were talking about sexuality. Not many people were talking about AIDS or HIV.

A lesson taught with humor is a lesson retained.

Before I became an orphan of the Holocaust my early family life was stable. I grew up as a German Jew in Frankfurt, and I was in a household with two loving parents and an adoring grandmother who spoiled me. My mother helped my father in their wholesale business and they went to synagogue every Friday.

I love small things. I love them.

There are times when you should never give a cheater a second chance, but there also are exceptions.

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.

At first I was against Internet dating because there are some inherent risks, but I've seen so many happy couples who've met on the Internet that I've changed my mind.

If not for the Kindertransport, I would not be here today.

Contraception has to be available for anybody who needs it.

At the age of 16 I immigrated to Palestine from Europe, where I became a member of the Haganah, the main underground army of the Jews.

I may have been on the cover of People and gone on 'David Letterman' and 'Arsenio Hall' because they had young audiences I wanted to talk to. But at the same time, I always did serious books or taught seminars.

When some women literally throw themselves at you, it's easy to get confused and think that every woman is eager for your attentions.

I once went with my grandson to a county fair where you shoot a water pistol at the clown's mouth. We came home with twelve stuffed animals and a goldfish.

Now were it up to me, I would abolish all warfare.

Even top fashion models get critical about one certain part of their body that they do not like. So perfection is impossible.

The most important thing for my father was learning. Because nobody can take that away from you.

German Jews don't show their emotions in public.

I want to be like Madame de Stael.

I love being Dr. Ruth, so I have never thought of retiring.

I'm a very lucky mother.

The early socialization of a child is crucial.

A friendship has to be cultivated. A friendship you have to give time.

I'm not a type of grandmother sitting in a rocking chair. I'm a lot in the theater. I'm a lot at concerts. I'm a lot at friends.' I like to go out for dinner. I don't have to be home one night a week if I don't want to.

I believe my soul isn't entirely German because my home is so disorderly.

Yes, for me Hanukkah is very sad. But the life force that's in me makes it a wonderful holiday, too.

Never to forget the Holocaust was not only against Jews. It was mostly against Jews but it was also against homosexuals, gypsies and, let's not forget, people with disability.

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.

It is impossible to deny that people in power face more temptations than ordinary citizens.

When you feel yourself being critical, whether it is of yourself or another person, stop yourself. Look for positive aspects to admire.

Because of my experience with the Holocaust, I don't like to lose friends.

I got the Margaret Sanger award. I was kissed by President Obama.

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.

Why should only rich men have young, beautiful women? Rich women should have young, beautiful men.

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

I am fortunate.

You walk into a restaurant these days, and what you see is everyone with their phone next to them. That is terrible. Instead of concentrating on the relationship, on the needs and activities and interests of the other person, they are constantly looking at their phone.

We just do not know what is normal.

I was 50 when I had my first show, so I was never on television with a short skirt or decollete; I never tried to look or be younger.

You see families at a restaurant and the kids are on the phone and the adults are on the phone. It's just a catastrophe.

I have some afflictions, like diabetes 2, but I take care. I sleep well.

Every person deserves respect.

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.

When the first armies were formed, combat took courage, which women share equally with men, and strength, which we do not. But though I am only 4 feet 7 inches tall, with a gun in my hand I am the equal of a soldier who's 6 feet 7 - perhaps even at a slight advantage, as I make a smaller target.

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

My son told me to stop singing 'Happy Birthday' when he was 4.

My parents sent me to Switzerland on a Kindertransport.

When I came to this country, people told me that if I wanted to teach and work here, I would have to take speech lessons to lose my accent. But it helped me greatly, because when people turned on the radio, they knew it was me.

I do remember all of the songs of my childhood and they helped us to cope with being orphans. But the memories of my parents in my early childhood and the solid foundations of socialisation and strong values that they gave me never left me for one day.

I'm old-fashioned and a square.

People like me have to stay away from politics.

My father taught me to study, study, study hard and he sent me to a very good Jewish school even though it was not near the house.

For many years, I didn't have a home.

Travel has always been one of the best ways to make new memories and reconnect with your loved ones.

My mother was a very quiet woman and people say that she didn't get much of a chance to talk because my grandmother and I talked so much.

It is good to be Dr. Ruth.

I have in my bones, and in my blood, the knowledge that you have to help the people who are persecuted.

I'm very lucky, because it's a combination of the German, the Hebrew, the Swiss, the French, and that accent helped because as soon as people heard it they knew it was me.