I am an ordinary person who has been blessed with extraordinary opportunities and experiences.
Sonia SotomayorRead
I have spent my years since Princeton, while at law school and in my various professional jobs, not feeling completely a part of the worlds I inhabit. I am always looking over my shoulder wondering if I measure up.
Interpretation
The quote reflects a persistent feeling of inadequacy and longing for belonging in different environments.
Sonia Sotomayor expresses her feelings of alienation and self-doubt throughout her educational and professional journey. Despite her accomplishments, she grapples with the uncertainty of whether she fits into the worlds she navigates, highlighting a common struggle many face in their pursuit of success and acceptance.
In practice
In a graduation speech to highlight the importance of self-acceptance.
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.
Atticus, he was real nice." "Most people are, Scout, when you finally see them.
It doesn't make a damned bit of difference who wins the war to someone who's dead.
It is becoming clear that the old platitudes can no longer be maintained, and that if we wish to improve our morals we must first improve our knowledge.
Calvin: Know what I pray for? Hobbes: What? Calvin: The strength to change what I can, the inability to accept what I can't, and the incapacity to tell the difference.
He hath no leisure who useth it not.
My interest in well-being evolved from my interest in decision making - from raising the question of whether people know what they will want in the future and whether the things that people want for themselves will make them happy.
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