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.
Power acquired by violence is only a usurpation, and lasts only as long as the force of him who commands prevails over that of those who obey.
What I've said before, only half in joke, is that everybody in Ireland is famous. Or, maybe better, say everybody is familiar.
I do not believe that all books will or should migrate onto screens: as Douglas Adams once pointed out to me, more than 20 years before the Kindle turned up, a physical book is like a shark. Sharks are old: there were sharks in the ocean before the dinosaurs. And the reason there are still sharks around is that sharks are better at being sharks than anything else is.
Public speaking is done in the public tongue, the national or tribal language; and the language of our tribe is the men's language. Of course women learn it. We're not dumb. If you can tell Margaret Thatcher from Ronald Reagan, or Indira Gandhi from General Somoza, by anything they say, tell me how. This is a man's world, so it talks a man's language.
A man must know his destiny… if he does not recognize it, then he is lost. By this I mean, once, twice, or at the very most, three times, fate will reach out and tap a man on the shoulder… if he has the imagination, he will turn around and fate will point out to him what fork in the road he should take, if he has the guts, he will take it.
Full fathom five thy father lies;_x000D_ Of his bones are coral made;_x000D_ Those are pearls that were his eyes;_x000D_ Nothing of him that doth fade,_x000D_ But doth suffer a sea-change_x000D_ Into something rich and strange._x000D_ Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell:_x000D_ Ding-dong._x000D_ Hark! now I hear them — Ding-dong, bell.
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