John Rawls Quotes

Keep in view the common good of the people for all time.

Upon the principles of reason, the good of many is preferable to the good of a few or of one; a lasting good is to be preferred before a temporary, the public before the private.

I try to persuade people to act in ways that are not only in their own interest, but in the interest of society at large.

The balance of private good and general welfare is at the bottom of civilized morals; but the morals of the Heroic Age are founded on individuality, and on nothing else.

Everyone thinks chiefly of his own, hardly ever of the public interest.

There are certain public needs that outweigh private interests.

The public interest may be presumed to be what men would choose if they saw clearly, thought rationally, acted disinterestedly and benevolently.

No public interest is anything other or nobler than a massed accumulation of private interests.

Since there is no such entity as 'the public,' since the public is merely a number of individuals, the idea that 'the public interest' supersedes private interests and rights can have but one meaning: that the interests and rights of some individuals take precedence over the interests and rights of others.

The pressure of special interests, the demands of special sections of the state, the needs of friends, all must be subordinated to the good of the people as a whole.

To believe in 'the greater good' is to operate, necessarily, in a certain ethical suspension.

Balancing the common good with the freedom and liberty to exercise that individuality has been and remains a challenge for those committed to democracy while understanding that the polis ensures our participation and therefore our citizenship.

The greatest happiness of the greatest number is the foundation of morals and legislation.

For Christians, faith is a precious good, the most valuable personal and social resource. When it is left untapped, the common good suffers - not just the particular interests of Christians.

Our object in the construction of the state is the greatest happiness of the whole, and not that of any one class.

There cannot be any impediment to science that will ultimately be good to the general public.

Every society, all government, and every kind of civil compact therefore, is or ought to be, calculated for the general good and safety of the community.

What it missing, I think, is this notion of the common good.

The object of government in peace and in war is not the glory of rulers or of races, but the happiness of the common man.

The purpose of government is to obtain the greatest quantity of human happiness.

The good of the people is the chief law.

All government is intended for the benefit of the people.

The national interest is not simply the sum of our special interests and attachments.

The end of government is the good of mankind.

Earlier pluralist societies destroyed themselves because no one took care of the common good. They abounded in communities but could not sustain community, let alone create it.