Top 66 Ruth Westheimer Quotes

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

I would never have dreamt that I would live in this country and that we would see swastikas painted at the door of a psychology professor at Columbia University.

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

Every person deserves respect.

I’m never embarrassed to say, ‘I don’t know.’

I love small things. I love them.

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’m a Zionist who believes that every person has to have a country of their own.

I certainly believe in equal rights.

My parents sent me to Switzerland on a Kindertransport.

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.

Many years ago, I went with my husband and daughter to Denmark. In those years, you could bring $400 worth of furniture without taxes. We had three people, we bought $1,200 worth of furniture.

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

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

Every person has to be respected.

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 was already 50 when I started in television.

I’m a super good shot.

I am not an expert on that whole issue of gender.

There will always be issues where an abortion is necessary.

I never talk about anything Hollywood or about politics. I will talk about how concerned I am about funding for Planned Parenthood, and how very sad it makes me when I see anything about children being separated from their parents.

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

I don’t talk around issues.

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.

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 am a very good sniper, and I can put five bullets into that red circle and I know how to throw hand grenades.

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

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

It is good to be Dr. Ruth.

I was an only child.

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.

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.

Young and older people need to learn relationships take time and effort.

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

I don’t know how to play Canasta.

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

I don’t let people call me before 9 A.M.

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

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

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 don’t have scientifically validated data, but once two people have found each other and found interest in each other, my hypothesis would be that the relationship has a good chance of being successful.

A lesson taught with humor is a lesson retained.

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.

I was one of the first ones to participate in fundraisers for AIDS.

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

The early socialization of a child is crucial.

I want to be like Madame de Stael.

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.

It matters a great deal that I come from a Jewish background.

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.

For many years, I didn’t have a home.

We just do not know what is normal.

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.

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.

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.

I don’t want people to be lonely. I would like them to find partners.

I’m a black-diamond skier and can dance the whole night – if I find a good partner!

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

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.

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

I have the habit of always saying thank you to police and guards who watch us.

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

I’m a very lucky mother.

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.

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

I’m old-fashioned and a square.