First: each person is to have an equal right to the most extensive liberty compatible with similar liberty for others. Second: social and economic inequalities are to be arranged so that they are both (a) reasonably expected to be to everyone's advantage, and (b) attached to positions and offices open to all.

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.

Justice is the first virtue of social institutions, as truth is of systems of thought.

The refusal to take part in all war under any conditions is an unworldly view bound to remain a sectarian doctrine. It no more challenges the state's authority than the celibacy of priests challenges the sanctity of marriage.

a fim de tratar as pessoas igualitariamente, a sociedade deve dar atenção àqueles com menos dotes inatos e aos oriundos de posições sociais menos favoráveis. A ideia é de reparar o desvio das contingências na direção da igualdade

The sense of justice is continuous with the love of mankind.

I have tried to set forth a theory that enables us to understand and to assess these feelings about the primacy of justice. Justice as fairness is the outcome: it articulates these opinions and supports their general tendency.

The circumstances of justice may be described as the normal conditions under which human cooperation is both possible and necessary.

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