Betty Ford Quotes

That's what we're here on this Earth for, to help others.

I have an independent streak. You know, it's kind of hard to tell a independent woman what to do.

The search for human freedom can never be complete without freedom for women.

You can make it, but it's easier if you don't have to do it alone.

A liberated woman is one who feels confident in herself, and is happy in what she is doing. She is a person who has a sense of self-it all comes down to a freedom of choice.

You never know what you can do until you have to do it.

I feel it's important to be active. People who retire, sit by their swimming pool and golf course and plan to relax have a very empty life.

Being a lady does not require silence.

My makeup wasn't smeared, I wasn't disheveled, I behaved politely, and I never finished off a bottle, so how could I be alcoholic?

I don't look at what I've lost. I look instead at what I have left.

Any woman should have the right to a safe and legal abortion.

Having babies is a blessing, not a duty.

I don't feel that because I'm First Lady, I'm very different from what I was before. It can happen to anyone. After all, it has happened to anyone.

I've learned a lot about myself. Most of it is all right. When I add up the pluses and subtract the minuses, I still come out pretty well.

I believe the equal rights amendment is a necessity of life for all citizens. The cabinet sometimes felt that I shouldn't be so outspoken.

We're full all the time. And people do have good success and I think one of the programs at the center, the Continuing Care, helps them with their success. Because it's difficult the first year.

I'll never forget the day that I was told I would have to have a mastectomy. My reaction to the words was total denial.

I know I was an alcoholic because I was preoccupied whether alcohol was going to be served or not.

It's always been my feeling that God lends you your children until they're about eighteen years old. If you haven't made your points with them by then, it's too late.

Alcohol may pick you up a little bit, but it lets you down in a hurry.

Friends aren't any more important than breath or blood to a high school senior.

Holding these babies in my arms makes me realize the miracle my husband and I began.

I had thought I would hate being First Lady... I loved it.

The problem with drugs is that people forget to stop doing them. There’s a time and a place for everything, Mr. Mackey, and it’s called college.

But my activities have been pretty much focused in the last almost 30 years on the recovery, of my own recovery, the understanding for my family of my recovery.

I really didn't want to have my name on the center, because it just seemed like it was too much of a personal thing.