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Luck egalitarianism defends inequalities that arise from effort and choice. This highlights a point of convergence with free-market liberalism. Both emphasize personal responsibility and make the community’s obligation to help the needy conditional on showing that their neediness is no fault of their own.

— Michael Sandel The Tyranny of Merits (2020)

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More quotes by Michael Sandel

Unlike the liberty of the early republic, the modern version permits — in fact even requires — concentrated power.

To put the point another way, the republican sees liberty as internally connected to self-government and the civic virtues that sustain it.

Democracy's Discontent (1996)

But if political philosophy is unrealizable in one sense, it is unavoidable in another.

Democracy's Discontent (1996)

Whether you're a libertarian liberal or a more egalitarian liberal, the idea is that justice means being non-judgmental with respect to the preferences people bring to public life.

Political philosophy seems often to reside at a distance from the world. Principles are one thing, politics another, and even our best efforts to live up to our ideals seldom fully succeed.

Democracy's Discontent (1996)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Michael Sandel (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.