--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Toleration and freedom and fairness are…" description: "\"“Toleration and freedom and fairness are values too, and they can hardly be defended by the claim that no values can be defended. So it is a mistake to..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/147/michael-j-sandel-32311_failure_toleration-and-freedom-and-fairness-are_955035.jpg" --- # Toleration and freedom and fairness are values too, and… ![“Toleration and freedom and fairness are values too, and they can hardly be defended by the claim that no values can be defended. So it is a mistake to affirm...that all values are merely subjective.” quote by Michael J. Sandel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/147/michael-j-sandel-32311_failure_toleration-and-freedom-and-fairness-are_955035.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/147/michael-j-sandel-32311_failure_toleration-and-freedom-and-fairness-are_955035.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/147/michael-j-sandel-32311_failure_toleration-and-freedom-and-fairness-are_955035.jpg) > ““Toleration and freedom and fairness are values too, and they can hardly be defended by the claim that no values can be defended. So it is a mistake to affirm...that all values are merely subjective.”” [Michael J. Sandel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-j-sandel/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Values cannot be dismissed as merely subjective; they require defense and public reasoning, rejecting moral relativism. **In simple terms:** Values need justification, not just subjectivity. Key Takeaway Engage in reasoned debate about core values. Themes ethics political philosophy relativism public discourse Mood critical inquisitive Type academic philosophical When to use this quote - classroom debate - policy making - social movements Key Concepts justice common good moral reasoning Questions to Reflect On - What values do you consider non‑negotiable? - How can societies negotiate conflicting values? A Different Perspective Defending values can be polarizing. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Failure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/failure/) [Freedom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/freedom/) [Justice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/justice/) [Values](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/values/) ## Related quotes > [Life is brief, even at its longest. Whatever you are going to do with your life, get at it. All good will be attacked.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-rohn/life-is-brief-even-at-its-longest-whatever-you-are-going-to-do-with/) [Jim Rohn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-rohn/) > [Could that have been what happened to the human race - a willing perversity that set at naught all human values which had been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clifford-d-simak/could-that-have-been-what-happened-to-the-human-race-a-willing/) [Clifford D. Simak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clifford-d-simak/) > [“...the danger that American society as a whole will over-esteem intellect or assign it such a transcendent value as to displace other legitimate values…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-hofstadter/the-danger-that-american-society-as-a-whole-will-over-esteem/) [Richard Hofstadter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-hofstadter/) > [The most critical factor subduing the demand for housing is that home ownership is no longer seen as the great, long-term buildup in equity…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mortimer-zuckerman/the-most-critical-factor-subduing-the-demand-for-housing-is-that-home/) [Mortimer Zuckerman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mortimer-zuckerman/) > [When you look at what I've done here, you see a consistent theme of reforms which is not driven by any dogma from across…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-hain/when-you-look-at-what-i-ve-done-here-you-see-a-consistent-theme-of/) [Peter Hain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-hain/) > [For me, human rights simply endorse a view of life and a set of moral values that are perfectly clear to an eight-year-old child.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-stoppard/for-me-human-rights-simply-endorse-a-view-of-life-and-a-set-of-moral/) [Tom Stoppard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-stoppard/) > [The family remains the basic unit of society and the first school in which children learn the human, spiritual and moral values which enable…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pope-francis/the-family-remains-the-basic-unit-of-society-and-the-first-school-in/) [Pope Francis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pope-francis/) > [it is the brevity of life which makes it tolerable; its experiences have value because they have an end.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/winifred-holtby/it-is-the-brevity-of-life-which-makes-it-tolerable-its-experiences/) [Winifred Holtby](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/winifred-holtby/) > [If the media is sending girls the message that their value lies in their bodies, this can only leave them feeling disempowered and distract…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jennifer-siebel-newsom/if-the-media-is-sending-girls-the-message-that-their-value-lies-in/) Jennifer Siebel Newsom > [Most paper money initially existed as a substitute for gold. That's what gave it value. But right now what gives a currency value is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-schiff/most-paper-money-initially-existed-as-a-substitute-for-gold-that-s/) [Peter Schiff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-schiff/) > [Music has an intrinsic value that touches Americans - they love their music, and want more.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilary-rosen/music-has-an-intrinsic-value-that-touches-americans-they-love-their/) [Hilary Rosen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilary-rosen/) > [Humans are, as Sartre put it, 'condemned to be free'. To insist that science, or God, objectively defines moral values is to abandon our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenan-malik/humans-are-as-sartre-put-it-condemned-to-be-free-to-insist-that/) Kenan Malik > [When you walk down the street of Kabul your values for life changes, they do change.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marco-pierre-white/when-you-walk-down-the-street-of-kabul-your-values-for-life-changes/) [Marco Pierre White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marco-pierre-white/) > [I could not limit my values and pursuits to what makes others comfortable. Being possessed by a promise I live without options. I will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-johnson/i-could-not-limit-my-values-and-pursuits-to-what-makes-others/) [Bill Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-johnson/) > [I put myself in the student's place and remember the frustrations, doubts, determination, and desires I felt when I was going through the initial…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-martinez/i-put-myself-in-the-student-s-place-and-remember-the-frustrations/) Ted Martinez ## More by Michael J. Sandel > [ “\[T\]he commitment to a framework neutral among ends can be seen as a kind of value \[...\] but its value consists precisely in its… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-j-sandel/t-he-commitment-to-a-framework-neutral-among-ends-can-be-seen-as-a/) [Michael J. Sandel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-j-sandel/) > [“Philosophy is a distancing, if not debilitating, activity.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-j-sandel/philosophy-is-a-distancing-if-not-debilitating-activity/) [Michael J. Sandel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-j-sandel/) > [“Moral excellence does not consist in aggregating pleasures and pains but in aligning them, so that we delight in noble things and take pain…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-j-sandel/moral-excellence-does-not-consist-in-aggregating-pleasures-and-pains/) [Michael J. Sandel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-j-sandel/) > [“the moral worth of an action consists not in the consequences that flow from it, but in the intention from which the act is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-j-sandel/the-moral-worth-of-an-action-consists-not-in-the-consequences-that/) [Michael J. Sandel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-j-sandel/) > [“And so, in the end, the question of markets is really a question about how we want to live together. Do we want a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-j-sandel/and-so-in-the-end-the-question-of-markets-is-really-a-question-about/) [Michael J. Sandel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-j-sandel/) > [“Markets express and promote certain attitudes to the goods being exchanged.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-j-sandel/markets-express-and-promote-certain-attitudes-to-the-goods-being/) [Michael J. Sandel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-j-sandel/) > [“We’re not only sentient beings, governed by the pleasure and pain delivered by our senses; we are also rational beings, capable of reason. If…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-j-sandel/we-re-not-only-sentient-beings-governed-by-the-pleasure-and-pain/) [Michael J. Sandel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-j-sandel/) > [“philosophy teaches us and unsettles us by confronting us with what we already know; there's an irony: the difficulty consisted in this course is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-j-sandel/philosophy-teaches-us-and-unsettles-us-by-confronting-us-with-what-we/) [Michael J. Sandel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-j-sandel/) > [“about runaway trolleys!” This is an example of what Kant would call heteronomous determination —doing something for the sake of something else, for the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-j-sandel/about-runaway-trolleys-this-is-an-example-of-what-kant-would-call/) [Michael J. Sandel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-j-sandel/) > [“Outrage is the special kind of anger you feel when you believe that people are getting things they don't deserve. Outrage of this kind…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-j-sandel/outrage-is-the-special-kind-of-anger-you-feel-when-you-believe-that/) [Michael J. Sandel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-j-sandel/) > [“A philosophy untouched by the shadows on the wall can only yield a sterile utopia.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-j-sandel/a-philosophy-untouched-by-the-shadows-on-the-wall-can-only-yield-a/) [Michael J. Sandel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-j-sandel/) > [“(...) greed that preys on human misery (...)”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-j-sandel/greed-that-preys-on-human-misery/) [Michael J. Sandel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-j-sandel/) > [“A growing body of work in social psychology offers a possible explanation for this commercialization effect. These studies highlight the difference between intrinsic motivations…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-j-sandel/a-growing-body-of-work-in-social-psychology-offers-a-possible/) [Michael J. Sandel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-j-sandel/) > [“The descent of sport into spectacle is not unique to the age of genetic engineering. But it illustrates how performance-enhancing technologies, genetic or otherwise,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-j-sandel/the-descent-of-sport-into-spectacle-is-not-unique-to-the-age-of/) [Michael J. Sandel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-j-sandel/) [Explore all 15 Michael J. Sandel quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-j-sandel/) ## More Failure quotes > [When you do things they're absolutely right at that time for you and it can always teach you something about yourself. You can take…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kym-marsh/when-you-do-things-they-re-absolutely-right-at-that-time-for-you-and/) [Kym Marsh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kym-marsh/) > [Failures happen. You can't cry over them. You just take it in your stride because you know that you have done your best... Sometimes,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/divya-dutta/failures-happen-you-can-t-cry-over-them-you-just-take-it-in-your/) [Divya Dutta](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/divya-dutta/) > [No one is completely unhappy at the failure of his best friend.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/groucho-marx/no-one-is-completely-unhappy-at-the-failure-of-his-best-friend/) [Groucho Marx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/groucho-marx/) > [“Rhiannon's Law #28: If you're going to fuck up, be sure to fuck up good and proper. Nothing makes failure acceptable, so you might…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/rhiannon-s-law-28-if-you-re-going-to-fuck-up-be-sure-to-fuck-up-good/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Failure is a part of life and you have to learn to deal with it. Failure is something that is part of life's cycle…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colin-powell/failure-is-a-part-of-life-and-you-have-to-learn-to-deal-with-it/) [Colin Powell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colin-powell/) > [If my child had prejudice in his head, I'd be ashamed. I would see it as my failure as a parent.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/if-my-child-had-prejudice-in-his-head-i-d-be-ashamed-i-would-see-it/) [Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/) > [First action was a mistake. What about the second? third? fourth and fifth?...Mehn you are bad...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/first-action-was-a-mistake-what-about-the-second-third-fourth-and/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [God's love never fail :)](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/god-s-love-never-fail/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Don’t you just hate nights like that, when you think over every mistake you’ve made, every hurt you’ve received, every bit of meanness you’ve…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlaine-harris/don-t-you-just-hate-nights-like-that-when-you-think-over-every/) [Charlaine Harris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlaine-harris/) > [“Our failure to understand another being's inner reality doesn't make that reality any less real, or any less valuable to that being. (p.255)”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kathryn-schulz/our-failure-to-understand-another-being-s-inner-reality-doesn-t-make/) [Kathryn Schulz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kathryn-schulz/) > [I hope that the Palestinians don't make the mistake of unleashing a new intifada. They've tried it twice before, and the consequences were bad…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-segev/i-hope-that-the-palestinians-don-t-make-the-mistake-of-unleashing-a/) [Tom Segev](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-segev/) > [Don't take too much comfort in the fact that you're successful today because tomorrow could bring failure. There's no surety in life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-savage/don-t-take-too-much-comfort-in-the-fact-that-you-re-successful-today/) [Michael Savage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-savage/) > [“It took me years to learn to sit at my desk for more than two minutes at a time, to put up with the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erica-jong/it-took-me-years-to-learn-to-sit-at-my-desk-for-more-than-two-minutes/) [Erica Jong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erica-jong/) > [failure in the theater is more public, more brilliant, more unreal than in any other field.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lillian-hellman/failure-in-the-theater-is-more-public-more-brilliant-more-unreal-than/) [Lillian Hellman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lillian-hellman/) > [As we are coming to the end of the year, I want you to forget about the past, the failure, the negative thoughts or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/as-we-are-coming-to-the-end-of-the-year-i-want-you-to-forget-about/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) [Browse all 27,498 Failure quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/failure/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Toleration and freedom and fairness are values too, and they can hardly be defended by the claim that no values can be defended. So it is a mistake to affirm...that all values are merely subjective.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Michael J. Sandel" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-j-sandel/toleration-and-freedom-and-fairness-are-values-too-and-they-can/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Failure" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-j-sandel/toleration-and-freedom-and-fairness-are-values-too-and-they-can/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/147/michael-j-sandel-32311_failure_toleration-and-freedom-and-fairness-are_955035.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/147/michael-j-sandel-32311_failure_toleration-and-freedom-and-fairness-are_955035.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/147/michael-j-sandel-32311_failure_toleration-and-freedom-and-fairness-are_955035.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Toleration and freedom and fairness are values too, and they can hardly be defended by the claim that no…” — Michael J. Sandel", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Michael J. Sandel", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-j-sandel/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“Toleration and freedom and fairness are...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-j-sandel/toleration-and-freedom-and-fairness-are-values-too-and-they-can/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-j-sandel/toleration-and-freedom-and-fairness-are-values-too-and-they-can/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```