A biography for Ruth Bader Ginsburghasn’t been written yet.
“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.”
“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.”
“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.”
“We've come a long way from the days where there was state-enforced segregation. But we still have a way to go.”
“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.”
“Women will only have true equality when men share with them the responsibility of bringing up the next generation.”
“I do a variety of weight-lifting, elliptical glider, stretching exercises, push-ups. And I do the Canadian Air Force exercises almost every day.”
“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.”
“אני שופטת, שנולדה, גדלה וגאה להיות יהודיה. הדרישה לצדק עוברת בכל ההיסטוריה היהודית והמסורת היהודית. אני מקווה, שבכל השנים בהן יהיה לי המזל הטוב לשרת על מושב בית המשפט העליון של ארצות הברית, יהיו לי הכוח והאומץ להישאר איתנה בשירות הדרישה הזאת.”
“אני לא יכולה לדמיין איך תיראה ארצות הברית עם דונלד טראמפ כנשיא... הוא מתחזה, אין בו עקביות, הוא אומר מה שצץ לו בראש. יש לו חתיכת אגו. איך יכול להיות שהוא לא שחרר את נתוני החזרי המס שלו וזה עבר בשקט? התקשורת מאוד עדינה איתו. אם בעלי היה חי, הוא היה מעדיף לעבור לניו־זילנד.”
“לפעמים, כשאני נשאלת מתי תהיינה מספיק [נשים בבית המשפט העליון], אני עונה ‘כשתהיינה תשע’. אנשים נדהמים. אבל כשהיו תשעה גברים, אף אחד אף פעם לא חשב שזה מוזר.”
“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.”
“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.”
“We had to go on and do the work of the court and we did.”
“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!'”
“I am fearful, or suspicious, of generalizations... They cannot guide me reliably in making decisions about particular individuals.”
“I think we understand that for the Court to work well, we have to not only respect but genuinely like each other.”
“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.”
“The enormous difference between fighting gender discrimination as opposed to race discrimination is good people immediately perceive race discrimination as evil and intolerable. But when I talked about sex-based discrimination, I got the response, 'What are you talking about? Women are treated ever so much better than men!”
“The worst times were the years I was alone. The image to the public entering the courtroom was eight men, of a certain size, and then this little woman sitting to the side. That was not a good image for the public to see.”