If you're poor, you don't often live near a good school. If it's a competitive public school program, our kids are not prepared to enter those programs.

When I'm concentrating, I can be fixed in place for hours. In fact, there was a joke in my office that everybody would come and chat outside my door because they knew - no matter how loud they talked - if I was concentrating, it would not disturb me at all.

I think that even someone who got into an institution through affirmative action could prove they were qualified by what they accomplished there.

I have come to believe that in order to thrive, a child must have at least one adult in her life who shows her unconditional love, respect, and confidence.

Don't be shy about making a teacher of any willing party who knows what he or she is doing.

I came to accept during my freshman year that many of the gaps in my knowledge and understanding were simply limits of class and cultural background, not lack of aptitude or application as I'd feared.

All judges have cases that touch our passions deeply, but we all struggle constantly with remaining impartial.