Quotes by Sonia Sotomayor

About Sonia Sotomayor:

Sonia Maria Sotomayor is an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, serving since August 2009. She is the 111th appointment to the Court, has the distinction of being its first justice of Hispanic heritage, its third female justice, and its twelfth Roman Catholic justice. Sotomayor shares with John Roberts and Elena Kagan being among the youngest justices on the Supreme Court.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Since I have difficulty defining merit and what merit alone means - and in any context, whether it's judicial or otherwise - I accept that different experiences in and of itself, bring merit to the system.

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 students from disadvantaged backgrounds could be brought ...

Sonia Sotomayor

[A]lthough wisdom is built on life experience, the mere accumulation of years guarantees nothing.

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

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 if the health and concerns of the greater body he...

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

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.

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

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 won't hold. But more important was her example that a surplus of effort could overcome a deficit of confidence. It was s...

Sonia Sotomayor

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 ...

Sonia Sotomayor

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

Sonia Sotomayor

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

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 Princetonian. ... Hiring committees had not a clue wh...

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 thought about Abuelita’s fierce loyalty to blood. ...

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

I accepted what the Sisters taught in religion class: that God is loving, merciful, charitable, forgiving. That message didn't jibe with adults smacking kids.

Sonia Sotomayor

There are no bystanders in life [...] Our humanity makes us each a part of something greater than ourselves.

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

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, ...

Sonia Sotomayor

Author Bio

  • NameSonia Sotomayor
  • Descriptionfirst Hispanic U.S. Supreme Court Justice
  • AliasesSonia Maria Sotomayor
  • BornJune 25, 1954
  • CountryUnited States Of America
  • ProfessionJudge; Lawyer