"The fact of reasonable pluralism is a permanent feature of a democratic culture."

"A society is well-ordered when it is effectively regulated by a public conception of justice."

"The problem of stability is to show that a just society can be stable over time."

"The idea of a well-ordered society is an ideal that we should strive for, even if we can never fully achieve it."

"The idea of public reason specifies the political values that are to guide the exercise of political power."