There will be no justice as long as man will stand with a knife or with a gun and destroy those who are weaker than he is.

Singer’s line frames “justice” not as an abstract legal ideal but as a moral condition that cannot exist while the strong retain the socially sanctioned power to kill the weak. Although it can be read broadly as a condemnation of violence and oppression among humans, Singer is frequently cited in discussions of animal ethics, where the “knife” and “gun” evoke slaughter and hunting. The quote suggests that any society claiming justice while permitting routine, asymmetric killing rests on a contradiction: the weak are excluded from the moral community precisely when they most need protection. Justice, in this view, requires restraining power, not merely regulating it.