Pretending to be a princess is fun, but it is definitely not a career. Sonia Sotomayor More Quotes by Sonia Sotomayor More Quotes From Sonia Sotomayor My job as a prosecutor is to do justice. And justice is served when a guilty man is convicted and an innocent man is not. Sonia Sotomayor innocent-man jobs men In the wider context, what I believe I was - the point I was making was that our life experiences do permit us to see some facts and understand them more easily than others. Sonia Sotomayor life-experience believe facts Sometimes, even if there was no useful advice to give, I saw that listening still helped. Sonia Sotomayor listening advice giving When I'm concentrating, I can be fixed in place for hours. In fact, there was a joke in my office that everybody would come and chat outside my door because they knew - no matter how loud they talked - if I was concentrating, it would not disturb me at all. Sonia Sotomayor office matter doors Some people choose not to engage the battle and then don't seek out that kind of success. And others do. Sonia Sotomayor battle kind people I visit the island [Puerto Rico] as often as I humanly can. And I visit with community as frequently as possible, given the demands on me. I meet with kids. I meet with adults. I try to spend time and to listen to people talk about their lives. Sonia Sotomayor islands kids people One of the other reasons for writing this book [My Beloved World] was to hold on to the person you first met. More of the world knows about me now and follows me in a way that never happened before. I didn't want me, the inside of me, to change. Because I liked Sonia, the Sonia who has been. So another reason for writing the book was to hold on to that - whatever the best in Sonia was, to try to capture it. Sonia Sotomayor writing trying book 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 heritage differences judging [On the desert:] The wind was a constant, and when you paid attention, it seemed like the earth's own breathing. Sonia Sotomayor desert breathing wind Sometimes, idealistic people are put off the whole business of networking as something tainted by flattery and the pursuit of selfish advantage. But virtue in obscurity is rewarded only in Heaven. To succeed in this world you have to be known to people. Sonia Sotomayor selfish heaven people Don't be shy about making a teacher of any willing party who knows what he or she is doing. Sonia Sotomayor shy party teacher People in some situations act worse than animals. You can't be a judge if you try to be a robot. Because then you're not going to be able to look at both sides, and hear both sides. At the same time, if you're being ruled by emotion, then you're not being fair and impartial. Sonia Sotomayor judging animal people When you marry young, you run the risk that you'll grow in different directions. Sonia Sotomayor risk different running When I first became a judge on the district court, I had one lawyer who came to argue before me, and he was looking off to the side as he was talking. I started asking him questions, and all of a sudden he whipped around and looked at me intently. I could see in his eyes that he had finally figured out, "This is no dummy, I'd better pay attention." It is satisfying to see that. Sonia Sotomayor eye judging attention I listened very, very carefully to the world around me to pick up the signals of when trouble was coming. Not that I could stop it. But it made me observant. That was helpful when I became a lawyer, because I knew how to read people's signals. When a witness hesitated, my mind would race to the conclusion that he was trying to hide something. What was it? I'd dissect the story in my brain and nine times out of ten figure out a hole they were trying to avoid. Sonia Sotomayor mind brain trying This is, for an accomplished Latino, an accomplished African American, an accomplished anyone who disproves stereotypes, it's a constant battle in your life. Sonia Sotomayor african-american stereotype battle I have never, ever focused on the negative of things. I always look at the positive. Sonia Sotomayor focused looks negative All I can say is that with business and the interest of any party before me, I will consider and apply the law as it is written by Congress and informed by precedent. Sonia Sotomayor congress party law The task of a judge is not to make the law - it is to apply the law. Sonia Sotomayor tasks judging law There's a great variety of people in Washington, but I think because of the great concentration of people in New York, that variety is more visible. You walk the streets and there are people of every color, shape and size, ethnic background, religion, it doesn't matter. It's always present. Sonia Sotomayor color new-york thinking
