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.
SONIA SOTOMAYORExperience 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.
More Sonia Sotomayor Quotes
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Personal experiences affect the facts that judges choose to see.
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You can’t dream unless you know what the possibilities are.
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I don’t believe we should bend the Constitution under any circumstance. It says what it says. We should do honor to it.
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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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My judicial philosophy is fidelity to the law.
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I have never had to face anything that could overwhelm the native optimism and stubborn perseverance I was blessed with.
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You make your life choices understanding that you might and do have to work harder to prove yourself.
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Success is its own reward, but failure is a great teacher too, and not to be feared.
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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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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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Remember that no one succeeds alone. Never walk alone in your future paths.
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As you discover what strength you can draw from your community in this world from which it stands apart, look outward as well as inward. Build bridges instead of walls.
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Although wisdom is built on life experiences, the mere accumulation of years guarantees nothing.
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If I write a book where all I’ve ever experienced is success, people won’t take a positive lesson from it. In being candid, I have to own up to my own failures, both in my marriage and in my work environment.
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We apply law to facts. We don’t apply feelings to facts.
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In every position that I’ve been in, there have been naysayers who don’t believe I’m qualified or who don’t believe I can do the work. And I feel a special responsibility to prove them wrong.
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Don’t mistake politeness for lack of strength.
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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 way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to speak openly and candidly on the subject of race, and to apply the Constitution with eyes open to the unfortunate effects of centuries of racial discrimination.
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I do believe that every person has an equal opportunity to be a good and wise judge regardless of their background or life experiences.
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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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I savor life. When you have anything that threatens life it prods you into stepping back and really appreciating the value of life and taking from it what you can.
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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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I have always been actively involved in my community, belonging to organizations that promote the interests of Latinos. But I also know that the issues we confront are the same issues, in many respects, as the larger community. So what we do helps not just us but everybody.
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Until we reach equality in education, we can’t reach equality in the larger society.
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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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