Sonia Maria Sotomayor is an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. She was nominated by President Barack Obama on May 26, 2009 and has served since August 8, 2009. Sotomayor is the first Hispanic and Latina member of the Court. Sotomayor was born in The Bronx, New York City, to Puerto Rican-born parents. Her father died when she was nine, and she was subsequently raised by her mother. Sotomayor graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University in 1976 and received her Juris Doctor from Yale Law School in 1979, where she was an editor at the Yale Law Journal. She worked as an assistant district attorney in New York for four and a half years before entering private practice in 1984. She played an active role on the boards of directors for the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, the State of New York Mortgage Agency, and the New York City Campaign Finance Board. Sotomayor was nominated to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York by President George H. W. Bush in 1991; confirmation followed in 1992. In 1997, she was nominated by President Bill Clinton to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Her nomination was slowed by the Republican majority in the United States Senate, but she was eventually confirmed in 1998. On the Second Circuit, Sotomayor heard appeals in more than 3,000 cases and wrote about 380 opinions. Sotomayor has taught at the New York University School of Law and Columbia Law School. May these Sonia Sotomayor Quotes On Success inspire you to take action so that you may live your dreams.
1. “I have never, ever focused on the negative of things. I always look at the positive.” Sonia Sotomayor
2. “I do believe that every person has an equal opportunity to be a good and wise judge regardless of their background or life experiences.” Sonia Sotomayor
3. “Remember that no one succeeds alone. Never walk alone in your future paths.” Sonia Sotomayor
4. “You can’t dream unless you know what the possibilities are.” Sonia Sotomayor
5. “I stand on the shoulders of countless people, yet there is one extraordinary person who is my life aspiration. That person is my mother, Celina Sotomayor.” Sonia Sotomayor
6. “A surplus of effort could overcome a deficit of confidence.” Sonia Sotomayor
7. “Until we get equality in education, we won’t have an equal society.” Sonia Sotomayor
8. “Success is its own reward, but failure is a great teacher too, and not to be feared.” Sonia Sotomayor
9. “To me, lawyering is the height of service – and being involved in this profession is a gift.” Sonia Sotomayor
10. “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.” Sonia Sotomayor
11. “Don’t mistake politeness for lack of strength.” Sonia Sotomayor
12. “I am an ordinary person who has been blessed with extraordinary opportunities and experiences. Today is one of those experiences.” Sonia Sotomayor
13. “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.” Sonia Sotomayor
14. “You make your life choices understanding that you might and do have to work harder to prove yourself.” Sonia Sotomayor
15. “We apply law to facts. We don’t apply feelings to facts.” Sonia Sotomayor
16. “Although wisdom is built on life experiences, the mere accumulation of years guarantees nothing.” Sonia Sotomayor
17. “My hope is that I will take the good from my experiences and extrapolate them further into areas with which I am unfamiliar. I simply do not know exactly what that difference will be in my judging. But I accept there will be some based on my gender and my Latina heritage.” Sonia Sotomayor
18. “Whether born from experience or inherent physiological or cultural differences, our gender and national origins may and will make a difference in our judging.” Sonia Sotomayor
19. “I strive never to forget the real world consequences of my decisions on individuals, businesses and government.” Sonia Sotomayor
20. “I do know one thing about me: I don’t measure myself by others’ expectations or let others define my worth.” Sonia Sotomayor
21. “I’ve spent my whole life learning how to do things that were hard for me.” Sonia Sotomayor
22. “I savor life. When you have anything that threatens life, it prods you into stepping back and really appreciating the value of life and taking from it what you can.” Sonia Sotomayor
23. “I firmly believe in the rule of law as the foundation for all of our basic rights.” Sonia Sotomayor
24. “Experience has taught me that you cannot value dreams according to the odds of their coming true. Their real value is in stirring within us the will to aspire.” Sonia Sotomayor
25. “You know, failure hurts. Any kind of failure stings. If you live in the sting, you will – undoubtedly – fail. My way of getting past the sting is to say no, I’m just not going to let this get me down.” Sonia Sotomayor
26. “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.” Sonia Sotomayor
27. “It is important for all of us to appreciate where we come from and how that history has really shaped us in ways that we might not understand.” Sonia Sotomayor
28. “The Latina in me is an ember that blazes forever.” Sonia Sotomayor
29. “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.” Sonia Sotomayor
30. “I think it’s important to move people beyond just dreaming into doing. They have to be able to see that you are just like them, and you made it.” Sonia Sotomayor
31. “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.” Sonia Sotomayor
32. “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.” Sonia Sotomayor
33. “I have never had to face anything that could overwhelm the native optimism and stubborn perseverance I was blessed with.” Sonia Sotomayor
34. “In every position that I’ve been in, there have been naysayers who don’t believe I’m qualified or who don’t believe I can do the work. And I feel a special responsibility to prove them wrong.” Sonia Sotomayor
35. “Don’t let fear stop you. Don’t give up because you are paralyzed by insecurity or overwhelmed by the odds, because in giving up, you give up hope. Understand that failure is a process in life, that only in trying can you enrich yourself and have the possibility of moving forward. The greatest obstacle in life is fear and giving up because of it.” Sonia Sotomayor
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