10 Memorable Quotes From Former First Lady Betty Ford

BETTY FORD IN HER OWN WORDS:

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

"I was an ordinary woman who was called onstage at an extraordinary time. I was no different once I became first lady than I had been before. But, through an accident of history, I had become interesting to people."

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

"We were in a position where my husband had been sworn into office during a very, very difficult time. There had been so much cover-up during Watergate that we wanted to be sure there would be no cover up in the Ford Administration. So rather than continue this traditional silence about breast cancer, we felt we had to be public."

"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?"

"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."

"I figured, okay, I'll move to the White House, do the best I can, and if they don't like it, they can kick me out. But they can't make me somebody I'm not."

On being asked how often she and President Ford would "sleep" together? "As often as possible."

On Premarital Sex? "It might lower the divorce rate."

On abortion rights? "Any woman should have the right to a safe and legal abortion."