John Rawls Quotes

Quotes about:

• A just society is a society that if you knew everything about it, you'd be willing to enter it in a random place.

  John Rawls

  Willing, Ifs

  148 Copy quote

• The fairest rules are those to which everyone would agree if they did not know how much power they would have.

  John Rawls

  Agree, Know How, Knows

  131 Copy quote

• The natural distribution is neither just nor unjust; nor is it unjust that persons are born into society at some particular position. These are simply natural facts. What is just and unjust is the way that institutions deal with these facts.

  John Rawls

  Facts, Unjust, Way

  "A Theory of Justice". Book by John Rawls, 1971.

  127 Copy quote

• An injustice is tolerable only when it is necessary to avoid an even greater injustice.

  John Rawls

  Religion, Morality, Injustice

  John Rawls (2009). “A Theory of Justice”, p.4, Harvard University Press

  83 Copy quote

• The bad man desires arbitrary power. What moves the evil man is the love of injustice.

  John Rawls

  Moving, Men, Evil

  John RAWLS (1971). “A Theory of Justice”, p.439, Harvard University Press

  112 Copy quote

• In all sectors of society there should be roughly equal prospects of culture and achievement for everyone similarly motivated and endowed. The expectations of those with the same abilities and aspirations should not be affected by their social class.

  John Rawls

  Class, Expectations, Achievement

  John Rawls (2009). “A Theory of Justice”, p.63, Harvard University Press

  80 Copy quote

• The principles of justice are chosen behind a veil of ignorance.

  John Rawls

  Ignorance, Justice, Principles

  John Rawls (2009). “A Theory of Justice”, p.11, Harvard University Press

  57 Copy quote

• Justice is the first virtue of social institutions, as truth is of systems of thought. A theory however elegant and economical must be rejected or revised if it is untrue; likewise laws and institutions no matter how efficient and well-arranged must be reformed or abolished if they are unjust.

  John Rawls

  Law, Justice, Unjust

  John Rawls (2009). “A Theory of Justice”, p.3, Harvard University Press

  61 Copy quote

• Liberal constitutional democracy is supposed to ensure that each citizen is free and equal and protected by basic rights and liberties.

  John Rawls

  Rights, Democracy, Liberty

  John Rawls, Samuel Richard Freeman (1999). “Collected Papers”, p.621, Harvard University Press

  42 Copy quote

• No one deserves his greater natural capacity nor merits a more favorable starting place in society.

  John Rawls

  Merit, Natural, Starting

  John Rawls (2009). “A Theory of Justice”, p.87, Harvard University Press

  40 Copy quote

• [E]ach person is to have an equal right to the most extensive basic liberty compatible with a similar liberty for others.

  John Rawls

  Liberty, Equal, Persons

  John RAWLS (2009). “A Theory of Justice”, p.60, Harvard University Press

  30 Copy quote

• The naturally advantaged are not to gain merely because they are more gifted, but only to cover the costs of training and education and for using their endowments in ways that help the less fortunate as well.

  John Rawls

  Training, Cost, Way

  John Rawls (2009). “A Theory of Justice”, p.87, Harvard University Press

  72 Copy quote

• Justice is the first virtue of social institutions.

  John Rawls

  Justice, Firsts, Virtue

  John Rawls (2009). “A Theory of Justice”, p.3, Harvard University Press

  12 Copy quote

• Justice as fairness provides what we want.

  John Rawls

  Justice, Want, Fairness

  John RAWLS (2009). “A Theory of Justice”, p.190, Harvard University Press

  35 Copy quote

• A society regulated by a public sense of justice is inherently stable.

  John Rawls

  Justice, Stable

  John RAWLS (2009). “A Theory of Justice”, p.498, Harvard University Press

  58 Copy quote

• The intolerant can be viewed as free-riders, as persons who seek the advantages of just institutions while not doing their share to uphold them.

  John Rawls

  Share, Advantage, Institutions

  "A Theory of Justice". Book by John Rawls, 1971.

  48 Copy quote

• Clearly when the liberties are left unrestricted they collide with one another.

  John Rawls

  Liberty, Collide, Left

  John RAWLS (2009). “A Theory of Justice”, p.203, Harvard University Press

  22 Copy quote

• Justice is happiness according to virtue.

  John Rawls

  Justice, Virtue

  John RAWLS (2009). “A Theory of Justice”, p.310, Harvard University Press

  66 Copy quote

• Many of our most serious conflicts are conflicts within ourselves. Those who suppose their judgements are always consistent are unreflective or dogmatic.

  John Rawls

  Judgement, Serious, Conflict

  John Rawls, Erin Kelly (2001). “Justice as Fairness: A Restatement”, p.30, Harvard University Press

  44 Copy quote

• The sense of justice is continuous with the love of mankind.

  John Rawls

  Justice, Philanthropy, Mankind

  52 Copy quote

• Any comprehensive doctrine, religious or secular, can be introduced into any political argument at any time, but I argue that people who do this should also present what they believe are public reasons for their argument. So their opinion is no longer just that of one particular party, but an opinion that all members of a society might reasonably agree to, not necessarily that they would agree to. What's important is that people give the kinds of reasons that can be understood and appraised apart from their particular comprehensive doctrines.

  John Rawls

  Religious, Party, Believe

  58 Copy quote

• The fault of the utilitarian doctrine is that it mistakes impersonality for impartiality.

  John Rawls

  Mistake, Doctrine, Faults

  John RAWLS (2009). “A Theory of Justice”, p.190, Harvard University Press

  14 Copy quote

• Properly understood, then, the desire to act justly derives in part from the desire to express most fully what we are or can be, namely free and equal rational beings with the liberty to choose.

  John Rawls

  Desire, Liberty, Equal

  John Rawls (2009). “A Theory of Justice”, p.225, Harvard University Press

  40 Copy quote

• Ideally citizens are to think of themselves as if they were legislators and ask themselves what statutes, supported by what reasons satisfying the criterion of reciprocity, they would think is most reasonable to enact.

  John Rawls

  Thinking, Citizens, Reason

  John Rawls (2001). “The Law of Peoples: With, The Idea of Public Reason Revisited”, p.56, Harvard University Press

  30 Copy quote

• Thus I assume that to each according to his threat advantage is not a conception of justice.

  John Rawls

  Justice, Assuming, Advantage

  John Rawls (2009). “A Theory of Justice”, p.116, Harvard University Press

  15 Copy quote

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