Sonia Sotomayor

My diabetes is such a central part of my life... it did teach me discipline... it also taught me about moderation... I've trained myself to be super-vigilant... because I feel better when I am in control.

So many people grew up with challenges, as I did. There weren't always happy things happening to me or around me. But when you look at the core of goodness within yourself - at the optimism and hope - you realize it comes from the environment you grew up in.

When everyone at school is speaking one language, and a lot of your classmates' parents also speak it, and you go home and see that your community is different -there is a sense of shame attached to that. It really takes growing up to treasure the specialness of being different.

Personal experiences affect the facts that judges choose to see.

I have never had to face anything that could overwhelm the native optimism and stubborn perseverance I was blessed with.

Until we reach equality in education, we can't reach equality in the larger society.

I do know one thing about me: I don't measure myself by others' expectations or let others define my worth.

A surplus of effort could overcome a deficit of confidence.

Outside of the marriage context, can you think of any other rational basis, reason, for a state using sexual orientation as a factor in denying homosexuals benefits or imposing burdens on them? Is there any other rational decision-making that the government could make? Denying them a job, not granting them benefits of some sort, any other decision?

I got a label because I was Hispanic and a woman and [therefore] I had to be liberal.

I come to every case with an open mind. Every case is new to me.

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.

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.

So they can create a class they don't like-here, homosexuals-or a class that they consider is suspect in the marriage category, and they can create that class and decide benefits on that basis when they themselves have no interest in the actual institution of marriage as married?

If the issue is letting the states experiment and letting the society have more time to figure out its direction, why is taking a case now the answer?

People who live in difficult circumstances need to know that happy endings are possible. Page 1.