“It is difficult to discern a serious threat to religious liberty from a room of silent, thoughtful schoolchildren.”
Politics
“Having family responsibilities and concerns just has to make you a more understanding person.”
FamilyAll Quotes by Sandra Day O'Connor
“Most high courts in other nations do not have discretion, such as we enjoy, in selecting the cases that the high court reviews. Our court is virtually alone in the amount of discretion it has.”
Alone“My hope is that 10 years from now, after I've been across the street at work for a while, they'll all be glad they gave me that wonderful vote.”
Hope“The freedom to criticize judges and other public officials is necessary to a vibrant democracy. The problem comes when healthy criticism is replaced with more destructive intimidation and sanctions.”
Freedom“We pay a price when we deprive children of the exposure to the values, principles, and education they need to make them good citizens.”
Education“The power I exert on the court depends on the power of my arguments, not on my gender.”
Power“We don't accomplish anything in this world alone... and whatever happens is the result of the whole tapestry of one's life and all the weavings of individual threads form one to another that creates something.”
Alone“Half the states have stopped making civics and government a requirement for high school. Half.”
Government“Yes, I will bring the understanding of a woman to the Court, but I doubt that alone will affect my decisions.”
Alone“I had become increasingly concerned in recent years about the lack of civics education in our nation's schools. In recent years, the schools have stopped teaching it. And it's unfortunate.”
Education“Young women today often have very little appreciation for the real battles that took place to get women where they are today in this country. I don't know how much history young women today know about those battles.”
History“Having family responsibilities and concerns just has to make you a more understanding person.”
Family“The No Child Left Behind Program was an incentive to the schools to get their kids up to snuff on math and science and reading.”
Science“We have a complex system of government. You have to teach it to every generation.”
Government“In order to cultivate a set of leaders with legitimacy in the eyes of the citizenry, it is necessary that the path to leadership be visibly open to talented and qualified individuals of every race and ethnicity.”
Leadership“You have citizens who don't understand how government works and they're kind of soured on it. All they do is criticize. They have no idea that they can make things happen.”
Government“The framers of the Constitution were so clear in the federalist papers and elsewhere that they felt an independent judiciary was critical to the success of the nation.”
Success“Society as a whole benefits immeasurably from a climate in which all persons, regardless of race or gender, may have the opportunity to earn respect, responsibility, advancement and remuneration based on ability.”
Respect“Statutes authorizing unreasonable searches were the core concern of the framers of the 4th Amendment.”
History“It matters enormously to a successful democratic society like ours that we have three branches of government, each with some independence and some control over the other two. That's set out in the Constitution.”
Government