The principles of justice are chosen behind a veil of ignorance.
Interpretation
Justice should be based on fairness without bias or knowledge of one's own social standing.
John Rawls' quote emphasizes the idea that the principles of justice should be determined without any knowledge of personal circumstances or biases. This 'veil of ignorance' forces individuals to consider the fairness of their decisions and structures, leading to a more equitable society where rights and responsibilities are allocated without favoritism or self-interest.
In practice
During a discussion on ethics, one might quote Rawls to highlight the importance of impartiality in decision-making.
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.
Justice is the first virtue of social institutions.
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 think that inside every adult is the heart of a child. We just gradually convince ourselves that we have to act more like adults.
Vedanta teaches that consciousness is singular, all happenings are played out in one universal consciousness and there is no multiplicity of selves.
When men stop believing in God, it isn't that they then believe in nothing: they believe in everything.
Everything is autobiography, even if one writes something that is totally objective. The fact that it's a subject that seizes you makes it autobiographical.
Habit is a man's sole comfort. We dislike doing without even unpleasant things to which we have become accustomed.
To interpose the threat of physical destruction between a man and his perception of reality, is to negate and paralyze his means of survival to force him to act against his own judgment, is like forcing him to act against his own sight
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