There are uses to adversity, and they don’t reveal themselves until tested. Whether it’s serious illness, financial hardship, or the simple constraint of parents who speak limited English, difficulty can tap unexpected strengths.
SONIA SOTOMAYORUntil we reach equality in education, we can’t reach equality in the larger society.
More Sonia Sotomayor Quotes
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I don’t have a professional aspiration. But I do have a personal one: I want to continue growing as a person. I want to reach out more to people, learn more from them. Ultimately, I would like to be a great justice that people remember with respect and fondness.
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The dynamism of any diverse community depends not only on the diversity itself but on promoting a sense of belonging among those who formerly would have been considered and felt themselves outsiders.
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The President Barack Obama had suggested that I not watch the news during the confirmation process. I assiduously followed his advice.
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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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Don’t be shy about making a teacher of any willing party who knows what he or she is doing.
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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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A surplus of effort could overcome a deficit of confidence.
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Without question, so many people, throughout my life, never think of Puerto Rico as part of the United States. Many people have no idea what the relationship is between Puerto Rico and the United States. And certainly, I have been asked if we are citizens.
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Although I grew up in very modest and challenging circumstances, I consider my life to be immeasurably rich.
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An alcoholic father, poverty, my own juvenile diabetes, the limited English my parents spoke – although my mother has become completely bilingual since. All these things intrude on what most people think of as happiness.
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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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My judicial philosophy is fidelity to the law.
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I realized that people had an unreal image of me, that somehow I was a god on Mount Olympus. I decided that if I were going to make use of my role as a Supreme Court Justice, it would be to inspire people to realize that, first, I was just like them and second, if I could do it, so could they.
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Diabetes taught me discipline.
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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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