I am an ordinary person who has been blessed with extraordinary opportunities and experiences.
Sonia SotomayorRead
In examining witnesses, I learned to ask general questions so as to elicit details with powerful sensory associations: the colors, the sounds, the smells that lodge an image in the mind and put the listener in the burning house.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of asking the right questions to draw vivid details from witnesses, enhancing their narratives.
Sonia Sotomayor's quote highlights a crucial skill in effective communication and inquiry — the ability to formulate general questions that encourage witnesses to provide rich, sensory details. By doing so, one can create a compelling narrative that not only conveys information but also immerses the listener into the experience, making the details more memorable and impactful.
In practice
In a courtroom setting, a lawyer might use this quote to emphasize the importance of effective questioning.
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.
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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.
Sometimes, looking at the many books I have at home, I feel I shall die before I come to the end of them, yet I cannot resist the temptation of buying new books. Whenever I walk into a bookstore and find a book on one of my hobbies — for example, Old English or Old Norse poetry — I say to myself, “What a pity I can’t buy that book, for I already have a copy at home.
Studying entrepreneurshi p without doing it... is like studying the appreciation of music without listening to it.
The child builds his inmost self out of the deeply held impressions he receives.
Only whites were allowed by law and practice to attend the University of Mississippi - a public institution supported by public dollars. Anything public and supported by public dollars is for me.
NASA's been one of the most successful public investments in motivating students to do well and achieve all they can achieve, and it's sad that we are turning the program in a direction where it will reduce the amount of motivation it provides to young people.
Chefs have a new opportunity - and perhaps even an obligation - to inform the public about what is good to eat, and why.
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