Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg didn’t become known as “notorious” for no reason at all–it’s kind of because she’s all not afraid to stand up for her beliefs. She’s also got an amazing workout routine (which she does twice a week), as we’ve written about here before.
But now, you can workout out just like her, because the 84-year-old has a book coming out about her routine, thanks to her trainer, Bryant Johnson, who wrote the book “The RBG Workout: How She Stays Strong… and You Can Too!,” which was also illustrated by Patrick Welsh. In case you’re wondering, Ginsburg does push-ups using her feet, not her knees. Damn, girl.
Her exercise routines have intrigued so many that even Politico reporter Ben Schreckinger wrote about it, describing how he couldn’t keep up with it. He said, “Sore, disoriented and cranky, I didn’t feel a day over 65.”
But let’s also not forget that Ginsburg is just as wise as she is physically active. She has sage advice for basically every scenario. Here’s some of my favorite quotes of hers:
On tuning out:
“[An] often-asked question when I speak in public: “Do you have some good advice you might share with us?” Yes, I do. It comes from my savvy mother-in-law, advice she gave me on my wedding day. ‘In every good marriage,’ she counseled, ‘It helps sometimes to be a little deaf’…I have followed that advice assiduously, and not only at home through 56 years of a marital partnership nonpareil. I have employed it as well in every workplace, including the Supreme Court. When a thoughtless or unkind word is spoken, best tune out. Reacting in anger or annoyance will not advance one’s ability to persuade.”
On balance:
“Advice from my father-in-law has also served me well. He gave it during my gap years, 1954 to ‘56, when my husband, Marty, was fulfilling his obligation to the Army as an artillery officer at Fort Sill, Okla. By the end of 1954, my pregnancy was confirmed. We looked forward to becoming three in July 1955, but I worried about starting law school the next year with an infant to care for. Father’s advice: ‘Ruth, if you don’t want to start law school, you have a good reason to resist the undertaking. No one will think the less of you if you make that choice. But if you really want to study law, you will stop worrying and find a way to manage child and school.’ And so Marty and I did, by engaging a nanny on school days from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m.”
On being a mom:
“Having Jane gave me a better sense of what life is.”
On “having it all”:
“You can’t have it all all at once. Over my lifespan, I think I have had it all, but in given periods in time, things were rough. And if you have a caring life partner, you help the other person when that person needs it.”
“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.”
“We should not be held back from pursuing our full talents, from contributing what we could contribute to the society, because we fit into a certain mold ― because we belong to a group that historically has been the object of discrimination.”
“Women will have achieved true equality when men share with them the responsibility of bringing up the next generation.”
“[W]hen 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.”
“I – try to teach through my opinions, through my speeches, how wrong it is to judge people on the basis of what they look like, color of their skin, whether they’re men or women.”
On money:
“I think our system is being polluted by money.”
On her mom:
“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.”
On her career:
“You think about what would have happened … Suppose I had gotten a job as a permanent associate. Probably I would have climbed up the ladder and today I would be a retired partner. So often in life, things that you regard as an impediment turn out to be great good fortune.”
