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20 inspiring and empowering quotes from the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg

"Real change, enduring change, happens one step at a time."
Ruth Bader Ginsburg quotes
The Washington Post / The Washington Post via Getty Im
/ Source: TODAY

Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the Supreme Court justice who was as pioneering as she was brash, died on Friday, the court said in a statement. She was 87 years old.

Rejected after law school for a Supreme Court clerkship because she was a woman, she began her legal career as a law professor and pioneering advocate for women's legal rights.

Ginsburg broke countless barriers during her trailblazing life, never shying away from making controversial comments along the way.

Here, we round-up 20 Ruth Bader Ginsburg quotes that are powerful and inspiring.

1. "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."

2. "Real change, enduring change, happens one step at a time."

3. “Women belong in all places where decisions are being made. It shouldn’t be that women are the exception.”

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

5. “People ask me sometimes… ‘When will there be enough women on the 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."

Ruth Bader Ginsburg quotes
Charles Dharapak / AP

6. "Reacting in anger or annoyance will not advance one's ability to persuade."

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

8. "Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you."

9. "You can't have it all, all at once."

10. "I'm a very strong believer in listening and learning from others."

Ruth Bader Ginsberg
Ron Sachs / CNP via Getty Images

11. "In every good marriage, it helps sometimes to be a little deaf."

12. "A gender line...helps to keep women not on a pedestal, but in a cage."

13. "If you want to be a true professional, do something outside yourself."

14. "Don't be distracted by emotions like anger, envy, resentment. These just zap energy and waste time."

15. "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."

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

17. “You can disagree without being disagreeable.”

18. “When contemplated in its extreme, almost any power looks dangerous.”

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

20. "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."