John Rawls quotes

The principles of justice are chosen behind a veil of ignorance. (John Rawls)
Justice as fairness provides what we want.
John Rawls
Intuitionism is not constructive, perfectionism is unacceptable.
John Rawls
Ideally a just constitution would be a just procedure arranged to insure a just outcome.
John Rawls
The circumstances of justice may be described as the normal conditions under which human cooperation is both possible and necessary.
John Rawls
No one deserves his greater natural capacity nor merits a more favorable starting place in society.
John Rawls
Justice is happiness according to virtue.
John Rawls
The fault of the utilitarian doctrine is that it mistakes impersonality for impartiality.
John Rawls
Ideal legislators do not vote their interests.
John Rawls
The fundamental criterion for judging any procedure is the justice of its likely results.
John Rawls
Inequalities are permissible when they maximize, or at least all contribute to, the long term expectations of the least fortunate group in society. (John Rawls)
There are infinitely many variations of the initial situation and therefore no doubt indefinitely many theorems of moral geometry.
John Rawls
There is a divergence between private and social accounting that the market fails to register. One essential task of law and government is to institute the necessary conditions.
John Rawls
A just system must generate its own support.
John Rawls
We may suppose that everyone has in himself the whole form of a moral conception.
John Rawls
The extreme nature of dominant-end views is often concealed by the vagueness and ambiguity of the end proposed.
John Rawls
The hazards of the generalized prisoner's dilemma are removed by the match between the right and the good.
John Rawls
An intolerant sect has no right to complain when it is denied an equal liberty... A person's right to complain is limited to principles he acknowledges himself.
John Rawls
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
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
Clearly when the liberties are left unrestricted they collide with one another. (John Rawls)
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
Many of our most serious conflicts are conflicts within ourselves. Those who suppose their judgements are always consistent are unreflective or dogmatic.
John Rawls
Thus I assume that to each according to his threat advantage is not a conception of justice.
John Rawls
In constant pursuit of money to finance campaigns, the political system is simply unable to function. Its deliberative powers are paralyzed.
John Rawls