Quotes by Sonia Sotomayor

Until we get equality in education, we wont have an equal society.

Dressing badly has been a refuge much of my life, a way of compelling others to engage with my mind, not my physical presence. Page. 283

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.

[T]he more critical lesson I learned that day is still one too many kids never figure out: dont 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.

That tide of insecurity would come in and out over the years, sometimes stranding me for a while but occasionally lifting me just beyond what I thought I could accomplish. Either way, it would wash over the same bedrock certainty: ultimately, I know myself. At each stage of my life, Ive had a pretty clear notion of my needs and of what I was ready for.

Seeing my mother get back to her studies was all the proof I needed that a chain of emotion can persuade when one forged of logic wont hold. But more important was her example that a surplus of effort could overcome a deficit of confidence. It was something I would remember often in years ahead, whenever faced with fears that I wasnt smart enough to succeed.

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

Many of my classmates have happier memories of Blessed Sacrament, and in time I would find my own satisfaction in the classroom. My first years there, however, I met with little warmth. In part, it was that the nuns were critical of working mothers, and their disapproval was felt by latchkey kids. The irony of course was that my mother wouldnt have been working such long hours if not to pay for that education she believed was the key to any aspirations for a better life.

I accepted what the Sisters taught in religion class: that God is loving, merciful, charitable, forgiving. That message didnt 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

Ive 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.

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.

I was fifteen years old when I understood how it is that things break down: people cant imagine someone elses point of view.

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.

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, fairness, and the avoidance of cruelty. But I have never accepted the argument that principle is compromised by judging each situation on its own merits, with due appreciation of the idiosyncrasy of human motivation and fallibility.

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 students from disadvantaged backgrounds could be brought to the starting line of a race many were unaware was even being run.

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.