Sonia Sotomayor Quotes

All I can say is that with business and the interest of any party before me, I will consider and apply the law as it is written by Congress and informed by precedent.

Until we get equality in education, we won't have an equal society.

[T]he more critical lesson I learned that day is still one too many kids never figure out: don't be shy about making a teacher of any willing party who knows what he or she is doing.

I couldn’t even tell if I had any sadness of my own, because I was so full of Abuelita’s sadness.

... a surplus of effort could overcome a deficit of confidence. Page 115

I accepted what the Sisters taught in religion class: that God is loving, merciful, charitable, forgiving. That message didn't jibe with adults smacking kids.

Many of the gaps in my knowledge and understanding were simply limits of class and cultural background, not lack of aptitude or application as I feared. Page 135

I've known how to control my anger, but that doesn't mean I don't feel it. Page 190

I've always believed phone calls from kids must be allowed if mothers are to feel welcome in the workplace, as anyone who has worked in my chambers can attest.

The tatters of old stories are tangled, weathered, muted by long-held silences that succeeded loud feuds, and sometimes no doubt re-dyed a more flattering color.

It seems obvious now: the child who spends school days in a fog of semi-comprehension has no way to know her problem is not that she is slow-witted.

I think that even someone who got into an institution through affirmative action could prove they were qualified by what they accomplished there. Page 188

[A]lthough wisdom is built on life experience, the mere accumulation of years guarantees nothing.

Sonia lives her life fully. If she dies tomorrow, she'll die happy. If she lives the way you want her to live, she'll die miserable. So leave her alone, okay?

...you cannot value dreams according to the odds of their coming true. The real value is in stirring within us the will to aspire.

The challenges I have faced—among them material poverty, chronic illness, and being raised by a single mother—are not uncommon, but neither have they kept me from uncommon achievements.

The Latino community anchored me, but I didn't want it to isolate me from the full extent of what Princeton had to offer, including engagement with the larger community. Page 148

[T]he habit of living as if in the shadow of death has remained with me, and I consider that, too, a gift.

I hope that as the Senate and American people learn more about me, they will see that I am an ordinary person who has been blessed with extraordinary opportunities and experiences.

It is important for all of us to appreciate where we come from and how that history has really shaped us in ways that we might not understand.