The clearest evidence that justice is the most important of all the virtues comes from what happens when you remove it. It’s remarkably stark: The presence of injustice instantly renders any act of virtue—courage, discipline, wisdom—any skill, any achievement, worthless…or worse. Courage in the pursuit of evil? A brilliant person with no morals? Self-discipline to the point of perfect selfishness? There’s an argument that if everyone acted with justice all the time, we wouldn’t have so much need for courage. While discretion moderates bravery and pleasure provides us relief from excessive
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