Quotes from Ruth Westheimer

Every person has to be respected.

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

I read the horoscope, and when I like it I smile and when I don't like it, I say, 'Dr. Ruth Westheimer, what's the matter with you?'

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

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'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'm not a sex symbol, at least in the conventional sense.

If you're facing a problem, don't tell yourself that you can't do it. Convince yourself that you have the strength to deal with almost anything because of the way you were raised. And you do! Recognizing your core strengths is an important step toward having joie de vivre. You can count on better days to come because of the good days that came before. And you can find joy in the moment because you have the resiliency to overcome the problems that may be hanging over you.

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

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.

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.

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.