Million Dollar Habits

Million Dollar Habits – Page 303 
action to maximize your opportunities and minimize possible danger and threats. 
The habit of prudence
means that you investigate every investment carefully, think 
ahead about what might happen if you were to take a particular course of action, 
and take intelligent steps to guard against setbacks and reversals of fortune. 
The most successful people are those who are prudent in the conduct in all of their 
personal and business affairs. 
Justice Is Blind 
The second habit for you to develop is 
the habit of justice
. This refers to your 
commitment to the establishment and maintenance of laws in society that protect 
the persons and property of every individual. The American Republic has endured 
for more than 200 years because it was carefully established by the Founding 
Fathers on the basis of law, not men. At every level of our society, specific laws 
are prescribed and laid down that are applicable to all people, regardless of wealth 
or station in life. 
John Rawls, the Harvard philosopher and author of 
A Theory of Justice
, once 
presented a question to his class that has been repeated often through the years. 
“Imagine that you could write the laws and create the circumstances of your 
society. You are given the power to prescribe the economic, social and political 
relationships that would exist in your country throughout your lifetime.” 
“There is only one limitation on your power. You would set up this structure 
without knowing into what sort of family or situation you would be born. You 

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Million Dollar Habits – Page 304 
would not know in advance what sort of physical condition you might be born 
with. Whatever system of laws and customs you decided upon, you would then be 
required to live under them for the rest of your life. What kind of structure would 
you design in this situation?” 
The answer to this question is the very essence of the concept of justice. The statue 
of justice, holding the balances and scales in her hand, is blindfolded. True justice 
is therefore applicable to all people who live under a certain system, irrespective of 
their background. When you make the habit of justice an organizing virtue for your 
own character, you will insist that, whatever the relative power of the parties, 
everyone be treated fairly and justly in the resolution of any difficulty or dispute. 
The habit of prudence is essential for personal success. The habit of justice is 
essential for the creation of a society within which a person can pursue his or her 
own best interests with the greatest of possibilities. The rule is that you should 
never want or demand anything for anyone else that you are not perfectly willing 
to accept for yourself.