I became a lawyer for selfish reasons. I thought I could do a lawyer’s job better than any other.

I conceived of myself in large part as a teacher. There wasn't a great understanding of gender discrimination. People knew that race discrimination was an odious thing, but there were many who thought that all the gender-based differentials in the law operated benignly in women's favor. So my objective was to take the Court step by step to the realization, in Justice Brennan's words, that the pedestal on which some thought women were standing all too often turned out to be a cage.

No one who is in business for profit can foist his or her beliefs on a workforce that includes many people who do not share those beliefs.

My mother told me two things constantly. One was to be a lady, and the other was to be independent. The study of law was unusual for women of my generation. For most girls growing up in the '40s, the most important degree was not your B.A., but your M.R.S.

If I had any talent God could give me, I would be a great diva.

The emphasis must be not on the right to abortion but on the right to privacy and reproductive control.

When police or prosecutors conceal significant exculpatory or impeaching material, we hold, it is ordinarily incumbent on the state to set the record straight.