Sonia Sotomayor Quotes

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.

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

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 something I would remember often in years ahead, whenever faced with fears that I wasn't smart enough to succeed.

[T]he more critical lesson I learned that day is still one too many kids never figure out: don't be shy about making a teacher of any willing party who knows what he or she is doing.

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.

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.

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

...you cannot value dreams according to the odds of their coming true. The real value is in stirring within us the will to aspire.