Justice Breyer will be remembered for pragmatic, progressive view of law and life

Curious, open and collegial, Justice Stephen Breyer's rose from a middle-class California family to the nation's highest court.

"Your life will shape itself around your decisions. … As you go on, your life begins to tell a story." "He took a valuable public leadership role, explaining to people the importance of the courts." "He saw government actors as good people of good will, trying to do their best and trying to make the world a better place." 

For a man who spent his life trying to figure out complicated questions of law and life, Breyer seemed to grasp how one's choices can — however small — ripple across society.