John Rawls

"I am particularly grateful to Nozick for his unfailing help and encouragement during the last stages."

"This is a long book, not only in pages."

"The concept of justice I take to be defined, then, by the role of its principles in assigning rights and duties and in defining the appropriate division of social advantages. A conception of justice is an interpretation of this role."

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

"Social and economic inequalities, for example inequalities of wealth and authority, are just only if they result in compensating benefits for everyone, and in particular for the least advantaged members of society."

"An individual who finds that he enjoys seeing others in positions of lesser liberty understands that he has no claim whatever to this enjoyment."

"An intuitionist conception of justice is, one might say, but half a conception."

"We may suppose that everyone has in himself the whole form of a moral conception."

"Intuitionism is not constructive, perfectionism is unacceptable."

"A scheme is unjust when the higher expectations, one or more of them, are excessive. If these expectations were decreased, the situation of the less favored would be improved."

"Our concern is solely with the basic structure of society and its major institutions and therefore with the standard cases of social justice."

"Being happy involves both a certain achievement in action and a rational assurance about the outcome."