110+ Ruth Bader Ginsburg Quotes On Morhood, Education And Feminism

Ruth Bader Ginsburg is an American judge who serves as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. She was appointed in 1993 by President Bill Clinton and is the second female justice to be appointed to the court. Ginsburg is known for her strong advocacy for gender equality and has authored several notable majority opinions. Following is our collection on famous quotes by Ruth Bader Ginsburg on morhood, education, leadership.

Top 10 Ruth Bader Ginsburg Quotes

1. Reading is the key that opens doors to many good things in life. Reading shaped my dreams, and more reading helped me make my dreams come true.
2. Anger, resentment, envy, and self-pity are wasteful reactions. They greatly drain one's time. They sap energy better devoted to productive endeavors.
3. Women's rights are an essential part of the overall human rights agenda, trained on the equal dignity and ability to live in freedom all people should enjoy.
4. My mother told me to be a lady. And for her, that meant be your own person, be independent.
5. Sometimes people say unkind or thoughtless things, and when they do, it is best to be a little hard of hearing — to tune out and not snap back in anger or impatience.
6. I would not look to the United States Constitution if I were drafting a constitution in the year 2012.
7. Frankly, I had thought that at the time Roe was decided, there was concern about population growth and particularly growth in populations that we don't want to have too many of.
8. Every constitution written since the end of World War II includes a provision that men and women are citizens of equal stature. Ours does not.
9. If we gave up our freedom as the price of security, we would no longer be the great nation that we are.
10. There is a Constitutional right to prostitution.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg Short Quotes

• I became a lawyer for selfish reasons. I thought I could do a lawyer’s job better than any other.
• Who will take responsibility for raising the next generation?
• The Second Amendment is outdated in the sense that its function has become obsolete.
• Dissents speak to a future age.
• I think unconscious bias is one of the hardest things to get at.
• It's great to be in the position of asking questions and not having to answer questions.
• Depriving a parent of parental status is as devastating as a criminal conviction.
• When a thoughtless or unkind word is spoken, best tune out.
• I'm a very strong believer in listening and learning from others.
• I think daughters can change the perception of their fathers.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg Quotes About Justice

So now the perception is, yes, women are here to stay. And when I'm sometimes asked when will there be enough [women on the Supreme Court]? And I say when there are nine, people are shocked. But there'd been nine men, and nobody's ever raised a question about that. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

We live in an age in which the fundamental principles to which we subscribe - liberty, equality and justice for all - are encountering extraordinary challenges, ... But it is also an age in which we can join hands with others who hold to those principles and face similar challenges. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

I am a judge born, raised, and proud of being a Jew. The demand for justice runs through the entirety of the Jewish tradition. I hope, in my years on the bench of the Supreme Court of the United States, I will have the strength and the courage to remain constant in the service of that demand. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Whatever community organization, whether it's a women's organization, or fighting for racial justice ... you will get satisfaction out of doing something to give back to the community that you never get in any other way. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

I do think that being the second [female Supreme Court Justice] is wonderful, because it is a sign that being a woman in a place of importance is no longer extraordinary. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Racial discrimination in elections in Texas is no mere historical artifact. To the contrary, Texas has been found in violation of the Voting Rights Act in every redistricting cycle from and after 1970. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Collegiality is crucial to the success of our mission. We could not do the job the Constitution assigns to us if we didn't - to use one of Justice Antonin Scalia's favorite expressions - 'Get over it!' — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Justice Scalia and I served together on the D.C. Circuit. So his votes are not surprising to me. What I like about him is that he's very funny and very smart. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

I think some of my colleagues' spicier lines are distracting. They draw attention away from what the justice is trying to say. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

I've had two cancer bouts in my years on the Court, and the first one, Justice O'Connor told me, 'Now, you do the chemotherapy on Friday because you'll get over it during the weekend and you can be back in court on Monday.' — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Ruth Bader Ginsburg Quotes About Equality

I said on the equality side of it, that it is essential to a woman's equality with man that she be the decision-maker, that her choice be controlling. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Women will only have true equality when men share with them the responsibility of bringing up the next generation. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

The state controlling a woman would mean denying her full autonomy and full equality. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Even the Declaration of Independence starts out all men are created equal, so I see my advocacy as part of an effort to make the equality principle everything the founders would have wanted it to be if they weren't held back by the society in which they lived and particularly the shame of slavery. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

How fortunate I was to be alive and a lawyer when, for the first time in United States history, it became possible to urge, successfully, before legislatures and courts, the equal-citizenship stature of women and men as a fundamental constitutional principle. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

I didn't change the Constitution; the equality principle was there from the start. I just was an advocate for seeing its full realization. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

I was tremendously fortunate to be alive and a lawyer, working at a university so I had more flexible hours, when the women's movement was coming alive and when it became possible to argue successfully for a view of the equal protection clause that included women. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

The women of my generation and my daughter's generation, they were very active in moving along the social change that would result in equal citizenship stature for men and women. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

I was a proponent of the ERA. The women of my generation and my daughter's generation, they were very active in moving along the social change that would result in equal citizenship stature for men and women. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

The concern was that if a woman was doing gender equality, her chances of making it to tenure in the law school were diminished. It was considered frivolous. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Ruth Bader Ginsburg Quotes About Marriage

You're saying, no, state said two kinds of marriage; the full marriage, and then this sort of skim-milk marriage. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

It's a facet of the gay rights movement that people don't think about enough. Why suddenly marriage equality? Because it wasn't until 1981 that the court struck down Louisiana's 'head and master rule,' that the husband was head and master of the house. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

In the course of a marriage, one accommodates the other. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

I think Mozart's operas 'The Marriage of Figaro' and 'Don Giovanni' are the two most perfect ever written. The music is magical. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Ruth Bader Ginsburg Quotes About People

I have yet to see a death case among the dozen coming to the Supreme Court on eve-of-execution stay applications in which the defendant was well represented at trial... People who are well represented at trial do not get the death penalty. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

A prime part of the history of our Constitution is the story of the extension of constitutional rights to people once ignored or excluded. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

One might plausibly contend that Congress violates the spirit, if not the letter, of the constitutional doctrine of separation of powers when it exonerates itself from the impositions of the laws it obligates people outside the legislature to obey. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

People who are well represented at trial do not get the death penalty. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Remember that before 'Roe v. Wade' was decided, there were four states that allowed abortion in the first trimester if that's what the woman sought: New York, Hawaii, California, Alaska. Other states were shifting. And people were fighting over this issue in state legislatures. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Work hard on each opinion, but once the case is decided, don't look back; go on to the next case and give it your all. It's not productive to worry about what's out and released, over and done. That's advice I now give to people new to the judging business. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

If you ask judges, do you always agree on everything? Of course not, we divide just as you do. Why aren't you transparent about it? Because the people would begin to think that the law is not stable, the law is unclear. And that would not give them much faith in the law. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

At my advanced age - I'm now an octogenarian - I'm constantly amazed by the number of people who want to take my picture. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

If you're going to change things, you have to be with the people who hold the levers. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

We have the oldest written constitution still in force in the world, and it starts out with three words, 'We, the people.' — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Ruth Bader Ginsburg Quotes About Work

If you have a caring life partner, you help the other person when that person needs it. I had a life partner who thought my work was as important as his, and I think that made all the difference for me. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Throwing out preclearance when it has worked and is continuing to work to stop discriminatory changes is like throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you are not getting wet. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Undocumented aliens unfortunately are not protected by the law, and they are tremendously subjected to exploitation. The result is that they would be willing to work for a wage that no person who is welcome in our shores would take. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

We had to go on and do the work of the court and we did. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Whatever final judgment awaits 'Bush v. Gore' in the annals of history, I am certain that the good work and good faith of the U.S. federal judiciary as a whole will continue to sustain public confidence at a level never beyond repair. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

My mother graduated from high school at 15 and went to work to support the family because the eldest son went to college. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

I think we understand that for the Court to work well, we have to not only respect but genuinely like each other. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

I certainly respect the belief of the Hobby Lobby owners. On the other hand, they have no constitutional right to foist that belief on the hundreds and hundreds of women who work for them who don't share that belief. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Work for the things that you care about. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Ruth Bader Ginsburg Quotes About School

When I graduated from law school in 1959, there wasn't a single woman on any federal bench. It wouldn't be a realistic ambition for a woman to want to become a federal judge. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

I was the first tenured woman at Columbia. That was 1972; every law school was looking for its woman. Why? Because Stan Pottinger, who was then head of the office for civil rights of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, was enforcing the Nixon government contract program. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

When I graduated from law school in 1959, there wasn't a single woman on any federal bench. It wouldn't be a realistic ambition for a woman to want to become a federal judge. It wasn't realistic until Jimmy Carter became our president. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

At Columbia Law School, my professor of constitutional law and federal courts, Gerald Gunther, was determined to place me in a federal court clerkship, despite what was then viewed as a grave impediment: On graduation, I was the mother of a 4-year-old child. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

We still have many neighborhoods that are racially identified. We still have many schools that even though the days of state-enforced segregation are gone, segregation because of geographical boundaries remains. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

My law school class in the late 1950s numbered over 500. That class included less than 10 women. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Ruth Bader Ginsburg Quotes About Person

Religious organizations exist to foster the interests of persons subscribing to the same religious faith. Not so of for-profit corporations. Workers who sustain the operations of those corporations commonly are not drawn from one religious community. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Marty was an extraordinary person. Of all the boys I had dated, he was the only one who really cared that I had a brain. And he was always - well, making me feel that I was better than I thought I was. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

The Sixth Amendment secures to persons charged with crime the right to be tried by an impartial jury reflecting a fair cross-section of the community. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

You can't have it all, all at once. Who - man or woman - has it all, all at once? Over my lifespan, I think I have had it all. But in different periods of time, things were rough. And if you have a caring life partner, you help the other person when that person needs it. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

You can't have it all all at once. Over my lifespan, I think I have had it all, but in given periods in time, things were rough. And if you have a caring life partner, you help the other person when that person needs it. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Ruth Bader Ginsburg Famous Quotes And Sayings

Dissents speak to a future age. It's not simply to say, 'My colleagues are wrong and I would do it this way.' But the greatest dissents do become court opinions and gradually over time their views become the dominant view. So that's the dissenter's hope: that they are writing not for today but for tomorrow. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

If there was one decision I would overrule, it would be 'Citizens United.' I think the notion that we have all the democracy that money can buy strays so far from what our democracy is supposed to be. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

The greatest threat to public confidence in elections in this case is the prospect of enforcing a purposefully discriminatory law, one that likely imposes an unconstitutional poll tax and risks denying the right to vote to hundreds of thousands of eligible voters. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Generalizations about the "way women are" and estimates of what is appropriate for most women no longer justify denying opportunity to women whose talent and capacity place them outside the average description. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

My mother told me two things constantly. One was to be a lady, and the other was to be independent. The study of law was unusual for women of my generation. For most girls growing up in the '40s, the most important degree was not your B.A., but your M.R.S. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

One thing that concerns me is that today's young women don't seem to care that we have a fundamental instrument of government that makes no express statement about the equal citizenship stature of men and women. They know there are no closed doors anymore, and they may take for granted the rights that they have. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

All respect for the office of the presidency aside, I assumed that the obvious and unadulterated decline of freedom and constitutional sovereignty, not to mention the efforts to curb the power of judicial review, spoke for itself. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

In sum, the Court's conclusion that a constitutionally adequate recount is impractical is a prophecy the Court's own judgment will not allow to be tested. Such an untested prophecy should not decide the Presidency of the United States. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Neither federal nor state government acts compatibly with equal protection when a law or official policy denies to women, simply because they are women, full citizenship stature - equal opportunity to aspire, achieve, participate in and contribute to society based on their individual talents and capacities. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

..the United States is subject to the scrutiny of a candid world ... what the United States does, for good or for ill, continues to be watched by the international community, in particular by organizations concerned with the advancement of the rule of law and respect for human dignity. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

When police or prosecutors conceal significant exculpatory or impeaching material, we hold, it is ordinarily incumbent on the state to set the record straight. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

If I resign any time this year, he [President Obama] could not successfully appoint anyone I would like to see in the court. ... [A]nybody who thinks that if I step down, Obama could appoint someone like me, they're misguided. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

It is not like I have gone crazy, I just don't want to take any chances. You never know what could happen. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Reproductive choice has to be straightened out. There will never be a woman of means without choice anymore. That just seems to me so obvious. The states that changed their abortion laws before Roe are not going to change back. So we have a policy that only affects poor women, and it can never be otherwise. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

My own view, and I've said this many times, is as long as I can do the work full steam, I will stay on the Court. But when I feel myself slipping, when I slow down in my ability to write opinions with fair dispatch, when I forget the names of cases that I once could recite at the drop of a hat, I will know it is time for me to go. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Approving some religious claims while deeming others unworthy of accommodation could be 'perceived as favoring one religion over another,' the very 'risk the [Constitution's] Establishment Clause was designed to preclude. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Our goal in the '70s was to end the closed door era. There were so many things that were off limits to women, policing, firefighting, mining, piloting planes. And the stereotypical view of people of a world divided between home and child caring women and men as breadwinners, men representing the family outside the home. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Arizona presents no specific reason for excepting capital defendants from the constitutional protections extended to defendants generally, and none is readily apparent. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

When I was growing up, there were no women in orchestras. Auditioners thought they could tell the difference between a woman playing and a man. Some intelligent person devised a simple solution: Drop a curtain between the auditioners and the people trying out. And, lo and behold, women began to get jobs in symphony orchestras. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

We do not read (the law) to elevate accommodation of religious observances over an institution's need to maintain order and safety, ... We have no cause to believe that (the law) would not be applied in an appropriately balanced way, without sensitivity to security concerns. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

The Second Amendment has a preamble about the need for a militia. Because there is a need for a militia to be at the ready, therefore the right to keep and bear arms must be secured. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

As De Tocqueville said, sooner or later in the United States, every controversy ends up in court. I think that's a great - says great things about our judicial system. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

I think the notion that we have all the democracy that money can buy strays so far from what our democracy is supposed to be. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

My mother told me two things constantly. One was to be a lady and the other was to be independent, and the law was something most unusual for those times because for most girls growing up in the '40s, the most important degree was not your B.A. but your M.R.S. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

I will do this job as long as I feel that I can do it full steam. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Promoting active liberty does not mean allowing the majority to run roughshod over minorities. It calls for taking special care that all groups have a chance to fully participate in society and the political process. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Anybody who has been discriminated against, who comes from a group that's been discriminated against, knows what it's like. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

In my view, if the Court had properly interpreted the Second Amendment, the Court would have said that Amendment was very important when the nation was new, it gave a qualified right to keep and bear arms but it was for one purpose only, and that was the purpose of having militiamen who were able to fight to preserve the nation. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

The court generally moves in small steps rather than in one giant step. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Feminism... I think the simplest explanation, and one that captures the idea, is a song that Marlo Thomas sang, 'Free to be You and Me.' — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

If you just needed the skills to pass the bar, two years would be enough. But if you think of law as a learned profession, then a third year is an opportunity for, on the one hand, public service and practice experience, but on the other, also to take courses that round out the law that you didn't have time to do. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Every gal and every boy that's born alive is either a little liberal or else a little conservative. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

A gender line... helps to keep women not on a pedestal, but in a cage. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

I do a variety of weight-lifting, elliptical glider, stretching exercises, push-ups. And I do the Canadian Air Force exercises almost every day. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

I'm sure I've changed my mind about something. Inevitably, when we grow up - as we get more experience and wiser. Well, I've changed my mind about some food that I didn't like when I was young. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

It's hard not to have a big year at the Supreme Court. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Contraceptive protection is something every woman must have access to, to control her own destiny. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

One aspect of appellate judging is we have to give reasons for all of our decisions. And when you sit down and try to write it out, sometimes you find that your first judgment wasn't the right one. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

My rule was I will not answer a question that attempts to project how I will rule in a case that might come before the court. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

In the '50s, too many women, even though they were very smart, they tried to make the man feel that he was brainier. It was a sad thing. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

She never envisioned a legal career for me, but she did think it was very important that I be able to support myself, and I think she would be pleased to see what has become of me. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

When contemplated in its extreme, almost any power looks dangerous. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

We've come a long way from the days where there was state-enforced segregation. But we still have a way to go. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

The experience I don't want to see repeated occurred in 'Bush v. Gore.' The Court divided five to four. There were four separate dissents, and that confused the press. In fact, some of the reporters announced that the decision was seven-two. There was no time to get together. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

I think members of the legislature, people who have to run for office, know the connection between money and influence on what laws get passed. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

I get very little sleep when the court is sitting. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Not a law firm in the entire city of New York bid for my employment as a lawyer when I earned my degree. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Congress could always stop the President if Congress thinks that what the President has done exceeds the President's authority or is just wrong for the United States. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

I do hope that some of my dissents will one day be the law. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Ever since my colorectal cancer in 1999, I have been followed by the N.I.H. That was very lucky for me because they detected my pancreatic cancer at a very early stage. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

The label 'liberal' or 'conservative,' any - every time I hear that, I think of the great Gilbert and Sullivan song from 'Iolanthe.' It goes, 'Every gal and every boy that's born alive is either a little liberal or else a little conservative.' What do those labels mean? It depends on whose ox is being gored. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

You would have a huge statelessness problem if you don't consider a child born abroad a U.S. citizen. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

I'm not very good at promotion. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

I would not look to the U.S. Constitution if I were drafting a constitution in 2012. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

I was a super once - an extra - in 'Die Fledermaus,' and was seated within three feet of Placido Domingo. I had never heard a voice of that beauty so close up. It felt as if an electric shock were running through me. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

It is not women's liberation, it is women's and men's liberation. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

My dissenting opinions, like my briefs, are intended to persuade. And sometimes one must be forceful about saying how wrong the Court's decision is. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Life Lessons by Ruth Bader Ginsburg

1. Ruth Bader Ginsburg's work as a judge has demonstrated the importance of fighting for justice and equality for all.
2. Her commitment to the law and her dedication to protecting the rights of all people is an example of the power of perseverance and determination.
3. Her legacy is a reminder of the importance of standing up for what is right and using the law to bring about positive change.