Quotes from Kenneth Frazier

I've always admired lawyers who use their power to effect social change, and Thurgood Marshall was always a childhood hero of mine.

My father was born in the year 1900 in South Carolina, and he grew up at a time where being an African-American child in the American South was to be deprived of access to anything close to a reasonable education. He only had three years of formal education, but he was self-taught. He read two newspapers a day.

My grandfather on my paternal side, Richard Frazier, was born in the late 1850s and, therefore, was born into slavery but was a sharecropper in South Carolina for his entire life.

The business of biomedical research is mostly about failure. Few projects we commission will ultimately result in success. But every study we do contributes to the body of knowledge that brings science and society closer to a solution.

I'm the last senior executive who was hired by Roy Vagelos. It's an honor, but it also imposes upon me an obligation not only to think about his legacy but also about this company's legacy.

I had a fantastic upbringing by two parents who cared deeply about their children but, more importantly, believed that anything was possible for their children and, in some ways, almost brainwashed us to be successful.

One of the strongest forms of rhetoric in our society is the rhetoric of blame.

America's leaders must honor our fundamental values by clearly rejecting expressions of hatred, bigotry, and group supremacy, which run counter to the American ideal that all people are created equal.

Affordability is critical so that patients have access to medicines. At the same time, it's also important that we have the kind of incentives that allow us to do the kinds of studies that we need to do to go after these diseases like Alzheimer's.

I am a person who does not subscribe to the hero-CEO school of thought.