Sonia Sotomayor Quotes

My first job paid well for a young attorney. I was making over $50,000, which was more than either of my parents had ever made. I thought I was rich.

Compared to today's salaries, our cut was minuscule but it was very good for the time.

Income inequity has to be addressed.

Hardworking Americans are fighting every day to provide for themselves and their families, and leave a more prosperous country for the next generation.

Anyone can relate to struggle, whether you're European or Asian. Anyone can relate to having to get up and go to work and eat.

I suppose I don't have to work, but I do love working. I class myself as a working-class girl, and I've never stopped working. When I'm offered shows here, there and the other, I do an awful lot because I feel other people would love to be offered what I'm offered; who am I to say no? I'm definitely working class, and I always will be.

People who own property feel a sense of ownership in their future and their society. They study, save, work, strive and vote. And people trapped in a culture of tenancy do not.

I am who I am. I can't pretend to be somebody who makes $25,000 a year.

I guess if you are making more money than your mom and dad, you can set your own boundaries.

People who get rich early should help the rest get rich.

Sometimes I make more money in a weekend than my grandpa made in a year.

I wasn't brought up as a society girl to go to balls and be a debutante and marry the social set and money and go to parties. No one in my family lived like that. And I never wanted to live like that. I was brought up to believe in work. I always wanted a career. Always.

My father was an engineer and my mother was a social worker, and they met as young socialists. That probably tells you everything you need to know about my attitude to money - I've never really been bothered about it.

When you are born rich, you have all these options. You can pursue a career path that you find interesting; there's no need or pressure to start working to get funds just for survival, which is something a lot of people have to struggle with.

I made a decision that whether or not I was going to make under the national poverty level wasn't going to play a part in whether or not I was an actor. That's what I do.

For lots of people who became rich, they believe they earned their fortune through hard work. They don't think about society and only want to leave their fortune to their children.

I can totally understand why people say: 'I'm going to do this T.V. series so that I can buy a flat'. But you've got to see what's of value to you as an actor.

My views on everything from welfare to a balanced budget to affirmative action can be traced to what Buddy and Helen Watts taught me as a young boy growing up poor but proud in Eufaula.

Those of us who have been economically successful cannot forget those who have not.

There is the freedom from want, despair and psychological insecurity that would come from having income sufficient to provide the necessities of life. But there is also the freedom to choose not to work for a time in order to take care of family members, pursue a passion, acquire education or contribute to a worthwhile community project. There is the freedom to start a new business with an uncertain future, the freedom to say yes to a job that pays little but yields joy and satisfaction — and the freedom to say no to a job that pays too little or is demeaning and unpleasant. Why, they ask, should such freedoms be reserved only for the wealthy?

I make more money in a week than my father made in a year.

For my own part, I have been wont to converse with poverty; and however disagreeable a companion she may be thought to be by the affluent and luxurious, who were never acquainted with her, I can live happily with her the remainder of my life if I can thereby contribute to the redemption of my country.

A universal basic income would be the best way to give everyone the opportunity to do more unpaid but incredibly important work, such as caring for children and the elderly.

I'm not motivated by money and I never really have been.

I think there are many people on £70,000 who may well feel that their circumstances are such that they are not rich.