“ Being a justice. If you love law the way I do... you're given the job of a lifetime... you're permitted to address the most important legal questions of the country, and sometimes the world. And in do… Sonia Sotomayor
“ Whether born from experience or inherent physiological or cultural differences our gender and national origins may and will make a difference in our judging. Sonia Sotomayor
“ There were no actual villains, just inertia. The administration genuinely wanted more diversity for reasons of its image as well as fairness, notwithstanding the cranky alumni letters in The Daily Pri… Sonia Sotomayor
“ The differences were plain enough, and yet I saw that they were as nothing compared with what we had in common. As I lay in bed at night, the sky outside my window reflecting the city's dim glow, I th… Sonia Sotomayor
“ [T]he habit of living as if in the shadow of death has remained with me, and I consider that, too, a gift. Sonia Sotomayor
“ Learning how to balance the needs of individuals with the no-less-real needs of an institution was an important lesson. It's fine to be on the side of the little guy, but he too will ultimately suffer… Sonia Sotomayor
“ As difficult an environment as the DA's Office could be, I saw no overarching conspiracy against women. The unequal treatment was usually more a matter of old habits dying hard. Sonia Sotomayor
“ In my experience when a friend unloaded about a boyfriend or spouse, the listener soaked up the complaint and remembered it long after the speaker had forgiven the offense. Sonia Sotomayor
“ If you held to principle so passionately, so inflexibly, indifferent in the particulars of circumstance - the full range of what human beings, with all their flaws and foibles, might endure or create… Sonia Sotomayor
“ I would warn any minority student today against the temptations of self-segregation: take support and comfort from your own group as you can, but don’t hide within it. Sonia Sotomayor
“ 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 Sonia Sotomayor
“ 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. Sonia Sotomayor
“ ...you cannot value dreams according to the odds of their coming true. The real value is in stirring within us the will to aspire. Sonia Sotomayor
“ 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? Sonia Sotomayor
“ [A]lthough wisdom is built on life experience, the mere accumulation of years guarantees nothing. Sonia Sotomayor
“ 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 Sonia Sotomayor
“ 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. Sonia Sotomayor
“ I had no need to apologize that the look-wider, search-more affirmative action that Princeton and Yale practiced had opened doors for me. That was its purpose: to create the conditions whereby student… Sonia Sotomayor
“ There is indeed something deeply wrong with a person who lacks principles, who has no moral core. There are, likewise, certainly values that brook no compromise, and I would count among them integrity… Sonia Sotomayor
“ 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. Sonia Sotomayor
