The United States lost its most iconic supreme court justice yesterday when Ruth Bader Ginsburg died from metastatic pancreatic cancer at the age of 87. The Notorious RBG, as she was known to her cult following, was a trailblazing feminist and the most prominent member of the supreme court, on which she served for 27 years. Though she was small in stature and reportedly shy, she loomed over the other justices with her sharp tongue and intimidating smarts.
As only the second woman ever appointed to the supreme court, RBG spent her career battling sexism and fighting for justice for the “fairer sex.” In her later years, she became a pop culture celebrity, and spawned a slew of fan art, an award-winning documentary, and was satirized by everyone from Kate McKinnon on Saturday Night Live to Missy Modell on Instagram.
Ginsburg’s death comes at an especially unfortunate time; even if Trump loses the 2020 presidential election, he may still have time to slip a (highly conservative) replacement justice into the court before he leaves office. If he does, RBG will be rolling over in her grave. Just days before her death, Ginsburg told her granddaughter, “My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed.”
We don’t know if RBG will get her wish, but we do know she will be remembered forever. In honor of the tough-as-nails justice, we’ve rounded up 15 of her best quotes. Read ’em and weep.
Cover Photo: Tom Brenner / Stringer (Getty Images)
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RBG Quotes
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RBG Quotes #1
"It helps sometimes to be a little deaf (in marriage and in) every workplace, including the good job I have now."
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RBG Quotes #2
"Women belong in all places where decisions are being made. It shouldn't be that women are the exception."
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RBG Quotes #3
“You can disagree without being disagreeable.”
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RBG Quotes #4
"I ask no favor for my sex. All I ask of our brethren is that they take their feet off our necks."
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RBG Quotes #5
“When a thoughtless or unkind word is spoken, best tune out. Reacting in anger or annoyance will not advance one's ability to persuade.”
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RBG Quotes #6
"Don't be distracted by emotions like anger, envy, resentment. These just zap energy and waste time."
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RBG Quotes #7
“A gender line...helps to keep women not on a pedestal, but in a cage.”
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RBG Quotes #8
“Women will only have true equality when men share with them the responsibility of bringing up the next generation.”
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RBG Quotes #9
"When I'm sometimes asked 'When will there be enough (women on the Supreme Court)?' and my answer is: 'When there are nine.' People are shocked. But there'd been nine men, and nobody's ever raised a question about that."
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RBG Quotes #10
"Reading is the key that opens doors to many good things in life. Reading shaped my dreams, and more reading helped me make my dreams come true."
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RBG Quotes #11
"If you want to be a true professional, you will do something outside yourself… something that makes life a little better for people less fortunate than you."
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RBG Quotes #12
"Real change, enduring change, happens one step at a time."
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RBG Quotes #13
"Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you."
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RBG Quotes #14
“Justices continue to think and can change. I am ever hopeful that if the court has a blind spot today, its eyes will be open tomorrow.”
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RBG Quotes #15
"I would like to be remembered as someone who used whatever talent she had to do her work to the very best of her ability."
