Powerful quotes by U.S. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg that will inspire generations to come

Words have the power to inspire and to stir a revolution and that is exactly what U.S. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg did throughout her lifetime. Besides being an accomplished jurist and a judge of the U.S. Supreme Court, Ginsburg was an inspiration to millions around the world. A true feminist icon, who not only fought for the rights of women but also preached equality for all human beings, she lost her battle against cancer and breathed her last on September 18th, 2020. Although, the late Justice is no more amongst us, she will always be remembered through her words and the imprint she has left behind with her noble actions. In order to honour her memory, here are some of the most powerful quotes by the Notorious RBG that will inspire generations to come.

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"So often in life, things that you regard as an impediment turn out to be great, good fortune."

"My mother told me to be a lady. And for her, that meant be your own person, be independent."

“My mother was very strong about my doing well in school and living up to my potential. Two things were important to her and she repeated them endlessly. One was to ‘be a lady,’ and that meant conduct yourself civilly, don’t let emotions like anger or envy get in your way. And the other was to be independent, which was an unusual message for mothers of that time to be giving their daughters.”

“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.”

“In the course of a marriage, one accommodates the other. So, for example, when Marty was intent on becoming a partner in a New York law firm in five years, during that time, I was the major caretaker of our home and child. But when I started up the ACLU Women's Rights Project, Marty realised how important that work was."

“I ask no favor for my sex. All I ask of our brethren is that they take their feet off our necks.”

“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.' Free to be, if you were a girl—doctor, lawyer, Indian chief. Anything you want to be. And if you’re a boy, and you like teaching, you like nursing, you would like to have a doll, that’s OK too. That notion that we should each be free to develop our own talents, whatever they may be, and not be held back by artificial barriers—manmade barriers, certainly not heaven sent.”

“I don’t say women’s rights—I say the constitutional principle of the equal citizenship stature of men and women.”

“Women will have achieved true equality when men share with them the responsibility of bringing up the next generation.”

"The basic thing is that the government has no business making that choice for a woman."

"The side that wants to take the choice away from women and give it to the state, they're fighting a losing battle. Time is on the side of change."

"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."

"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."

"We care about this institution more than our individual egos and we are all devoted to keeping the Supreme Court in the place that it is, as a co-equal third branch of government and I think a model for the world in the collegiality and independence of judges."

"Someone who used whatever talent she had to do her work to the very best of her ability. And to help repair tears in her society, to make things a little better through the use of whatever ability she has. To do something, as my colleague David Souter would say, outside myself. ‘Cause I’ve gotten much more satisfaction for the things that I’ve done for which I was not paid."