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."

"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."

"A gender line... helps to keep women not on a pedestal, but in a cage."

"America is known as a country that welcomes people to its shores. All kinds of people. The image of the Statue of Liberty with Emma Lazarus' famous poem. She lifts her lamp and welcomes people to the golden shore, where they will not experience prejudice because of the color of their skin, the religious faith that they follow."

"I always thought that there was nothing an antifeminist would want more than to have women only in women's organizations, in their own little corner empathizing with each other and not touching a man's world."

"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."

"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."

"I think daughters can change the perception of their fathers."

"I was part of Jazzercise class. It was an aerobics routine accompanied by loud music, sounding quite awful to me. Jazzercise was popular in the '80s and '90s."

"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."

"I'm a very strong believer in listening and learning from others."

"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."

"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."

"In the course of a marriage, one accommodates the other."

"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."

"Most states in the union where the death penalty is theoretically on the books don't have executions."

"My law school class in the late 1950s numbered over 500. That class included less than 10 women."

"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."

"Reacting in anger or annoyance will not advance one's ability to persuade."

"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."

"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."

"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."

"The state controlling a woman would mean denying her full autonomy and full equality."

"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."

"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."

"When a thoughtless or unkind word is spoken, best tune out."

"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."

"Women will only have true equality when men share with them the responsibility of bringing up the next generation."