I was fifteen years old when I understood how it is that things break down: people can’t imagine someone else’s point of view.
SONIA SOTOMAYORTo me, lawyering is the height of service – and being involved in this profession is a gift.
More Sonia Sotomayor Quotes
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I strive never to forget the real world consequences of my decisions on individuals, businesses and government.
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I have come to believe that in order to thrive, a child must have at least one adult in her life who shows her unconditional love, respect, and confidence.
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I do know one thing about me: I don’t measure myself by others’ expectations or let others define my worth.
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We apply law to facts. We don’t apply feelings to facts.
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I think that even someone who got into an institution through affirmative action could prove they were qualified by what they accomplished there.
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Through reading, I escaped the bad parts of my life in the South Bronx. And, through books, I got to travel the world and the universe. It, to me, was a passport out of my childhood and it remains a way – through the power of words – to change the world.
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My diabetes is such a central part of my life… it did teach me discipline, it also taught me about moderation. I’ve trained myself to be super-vigilant because I feel better when I am in control.
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Until we reach equality in education, we can’t reach equality in the larger society.
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When everyone at school is speaking one language, and a lot of your classmates’ parents also speak it, and you go home and see that your community is different -there is a sense of shame attached to that. It really takes growing up to treasure the specialness of being different.
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I came to accept during my freshman year that 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’d feared.
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We educated, privileged lawyers have a professional and moral duty to represent the underrepresented in our society, to ensure that justice exists for all, both legal and economic justice.
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Experience has taught me that you cannot value dreams according to the odds of their coming true. Their real value is in stirring within us the will to aspire.
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I am an ordinary person who has been blessed with extraordinary opportunities and experiences. Today is one of those experiences.
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I have never, ever focused on the negative of things. I always look at the positive.
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The truth is that since childhood I had cultivated an existential independence. It came from perceiving the adults around me as unreliable, and without it I felt I wouldn’t have survived. I cared deeply for everyone in my family, but in the end I depended on myself.
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Every lawyer, no matter whom they represent, is trying to help someone, whether it’s a person, a corporation, a government entity, or a small or big business. To me, lawyering is the height of service – and being involved in this profession is a gift.
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You can’t dream unless you know what the possibilities are.
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Pretending to be a princess is fun, but it is definitely not a career.
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There are no bystanders in life. Our humanity makes us each a part of something greater than ourselves.
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Some people choose not to engage the battle and then don’t seek out that kind of success. And others do.
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I was a keen observer and listener. I picked up on clues. I figured things out logically, and I enjoyed puzzles. I loved the clear, focused feeling that came when I concentrated on solving a problem and everything else faded out.
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Don’t be shy about making a teacher of any willing party who knows what he or she is doing.
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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.
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Diabetes taught me discipline.
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If the system is broken, my inclination is to fix it rather than to fight it. I have faith in the process of the law, and if it is carried out fairly, I can live with the results, whatever they may be.
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You know, failure hurts. Any kind of failure stings. If you live in the sting, you will – undoubtedly – fail. My way of getting past the sting is to say no, I’m just not going to let this get me down.
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