I am an ordinary person who has been blessed with extraordinary opportunities and experiences.
Sonia SotomayorRead
I am a product of affirmative action. I am the perfect affirmative action baby. I am Puerto Rican, born and raised in the south Bronx. My test scores were not comparable to my colleagues at Princeton and Yale. Not so far off so that I wasn't able to succeed at those institutions.
Interpretation
This quote highlights the impact of affirmative action on personal success and identity.
Sonia Sotomayor discusses her identity and experience as a Puerto Rican from the South Bronx, emphasizing how affirmative action played a crucial role in her educational journey. Despite facing challenges, she succeeded in prestigious institutions like Princeton and Yale, showcasing how diversity initiatives can empower individuals from underrepresented backgrounds to achieve their full potential.
In practice
In a speech about the importance of diversity in education.
I am an ordinary person who has been blessed with extraordinary opportunities and experiences.
This wealth of experiences, personal and professional, have helped me appreciate the variety of perspectives that present themselves in every case that I hear.
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.
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.
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.
There are uses to adversity, and they don't reveal themselves until tested. Whether it's serious illness, financial hardship, or the simple constraint of parents who speak limited English, difficulty can tap unexpected strengths.
Better times perhaps await us who are now wretched.
I watched Muhammad Ali, how when he would speak, how it was such a thing of beauty. It sounded so wonderful. And I wanted to be like him.
I'm not going to throw my imagination away. I refuse to lie down to expectation. If I can just hold out till I'm thirty, I'll be incredible.
I think there's a moral imperative when you're writing fictional heroes to give characters who somehow give us something to aspire to as opposed to dragging them down to our level.
Imagination is everything. _x000D_ It is the preview of life's coming attractions. _x000D_ Imagination is more important than knowledge. _x000D_ Never give up on what you really want to do. _x000D_ The person with big dreams is more powerful than one with all the facts.
Dance, when you're broken open. Dance, if you've torn the bandage off. Dance in the middle of the fighting. Dance in your blood. Dance when you're perfectly free.
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