Justice is the first virtue of social institutions.
Interpretation
Justice is fundamental to any fair system of society.
This quote by John Rawls emphasizes the importance of justice as the foundational principle upon which social institutions should be built. It suggests that just practices and fair treatment must be prioritized to ensure that society operates in a coherent and equitable manner, serving as a benchmark for evaluating the legitimacy of various social structures.
In practice
In a discussion on the importance of fairness in the legal system, one might quote, 'Justice is the first virtue of social institutions.'
The perspective of eternity is not a perspective from a certain place beyond the world, nor the point of view of a transcendent being; rather it is a certain form of thought and feeling that rational persons can adopt within the world ... Purity of heart, if one could attain it, would be to see clearly and to act with grace and self-command from this point of view.
The bad man desires arbitrary power. What moves the evil man is the love of injustice.
The principles of justice are chosen behind a veil of ignorance.
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.
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.
Many of our most serious conflicts are conflicts within ourselves. Those who suppose their judgements are always consistent are unreflective or dogmatic.
I went to medical school because I wanted to ask the big questions. Do we have a soul? Does God exist? What happens after death?
There is no way you can get people to believe you on screen if they know who you really are through television.
In my stillness I am the eternal possibility. In my movement I am the cosmos.
I saw a huge steam roller, It blotted out the sun. The people all lay down, lay down; They did not try to run. My love and I, we looked amazed Upon the gory mystery. "Lie down, lie down!" the people cried. "The great machine is history!" My love and I, we ran away, The engine did not find us. We ran up to a mountain top, Left history far behind us. Perhaps we should have stayed and died, But somehow we don't think so. We went to see where history'd been, And my, the dead did stink so.
Heaven wheels above you, displaying to you her eternal glories, and still your eyes are on the ground.
Yes, thou art ever present, power divine; not circumscribed by time, nor fixed by space, confined to altars, nor to temples bound. In wealth, in want, in freedom, or in chains, in dungeons or on thrones, the faithful find thee.
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