Joycelyn Elders

“Health is more than the absence of disease. Health is about jobs and employment, education, the environment, and all of those things that go into making us healthy.”

“I don't think we can separate health from the rest of our lives. It's not just about what you eat or how much you exercise.”

“I want to be the nation's doctor.”

“My main concern is that we're not getting to the root of the problem.”

“When you're dealing with a public health crisis, you can't be politically correct.”

“I feel that we have to begin to inform people, and I think that we have to do it in a way that's not threatening.”

“We've taught our children in driver's education what to do in the front seat, but we've left them to learn what to do in the back seat on their own.”

“If you don't educate yourself, you'll be a slave.”

“The only way we're going to solve the problem of teenage pregnancy is to get these kids to have better self-esteem.”

“I think we need to be realistic about what we can and cannot do.”

“We really need to get over this love affair with the fetus and start worrying about children.”

“We need to get the facts out and we need to get them out in a way that is not intimidating.”

“Regarding the suggestion that masturbation be taught in schools: I think that is something that is a part of human sexuality, and it's a part of something that perhaps should be taught.”

“I'm not a politician. I'm a doctor. I'm a scientist. I'm a mother. I'm a grandmother.”