Rawls A Theory of Justice

I have been reading Rawls' "Theory of Justice" recently. What he writes underlies what I have always felt but could never explain or say smart things about.

For my own memory:

"Taken together as one scheme, the major institutions define men's rights and duties and influence their life prospects, what they can expect to be and what they can hope to do."

"One way to look at the idea of the original position, therefore, is to see it as an expository device which sums up the meaning of these conditions and helps us to extract their consequences. On the other hand, this conception is also an intuitive notion that suggests its own elaboration so that led on by it we are drawn to define more clearly the standpoint from which we can best interpret moral relationships."

"It seems reasonable to supposed that the parties in the original position are equal...obviously the purpose of these conditions is to represent equality between human beings as moral persons, as creatures having a conception of their good and capable of a sense of justice."