Vivek Murthy Quotes

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Vivek Murthy

Profession : Public Servant

Birth : July 10, 1977

When you're in a pocket with low vaccination rates, that's when you find yourself at greater risk of getting measles.

Vivek Murthy

In the short term if I feel loneliness, it's like any other biological signals. It's like hunger or thirst. It's alerting me that something that's critical for my survival is missing.

Vivek Murthy

Part of the reason people don't talk about their loneliness is that they feel they will be judged for it.

Vivek Murthy

We don't just want to eradicate illness. We want people to achieve their full potential.

Vivek Murthy

If you use that time where you're alone in ways that bring you joy and peace, then that solitude can have a really positive effect on your life.

Vivek Murthy

Loneliness can become a downward spiral.

Vivek Murthy

Not all social interaction is uplifting.

Vivek Murthy

My father grew up quite poor actually in a small farming village in South India. His grandfather was a farmer, his father was a farmer, and he was expected to be a farmer as well - his life took a different path.

Vivek Murthy

Unlike many other illnesses, what I find profoundly empowering about addressing loneliness is that the ultimate solution to loneliness lies in each of us. We can be the medicine that each other needs. We can be the solution other people crave. We are all doctors and we are all healers.

Vivek Murthy

Kindness is more than a virtue. It is a source of strength.

Vivek Murthy

For far too many people, the stigma around addiction prevents them from stepping forward for help.

Vivek Murthy

I do not intend to use the Surgeon General's Office as a bully pulpit for gun control.

Vivek Murthy

What defines loneliness is our internal comfort level.

Vivek Murthy

I trained in internal medicine, and I expected most of my time would be spent on diabetes or heart disease or cancer. What I didn't expect was that so many people I saw would be struggling with loneliness.

Vivek Murthy

I'm calling for a cultural change in how we think about addiction. For far too long people have thought about addiction as a character flaw or a moral failing.

Vivek Murthy

Addiction is a chronic disease of the brain and it's one that we have to treat the way we would any other chronic illness: with skill, with compassion and with urgency.

Vivek Murthy

Climate change poses a serious, immediate and global threat to health.

Vivek Murthy

I firmly believe that everybody in America needs a safe place to walk or to wheelchair roll.

Vivek Murthy

I think that if we want to create a healthier country, we need to empower more people to make changes in their lives. But we also have to empower them to help change their environment.

Vivek Murthy

We have to recognize that we can help increase happiness of other people by reaching out, and building connections. People have done that for me in my life. There have been many times that my family and friends have reached out to help support me and contributed to my emotional wellbeing, and ultimately to my health.

Vivek Murthy