John Rawls

"A well-ordered society exhibits stability because citizens endorse its fundamental principles."

"Fair equality of opportunity prevents natural and social contingencies from determining outcomes."

"Political liberalism allows citizens to maintain diverse comprehensive doctrines while sharing public principles."

"Justice involves specifying which inequalities serve everyone's interests, particularly the least advantaged."

"The concept of reciprocity is central to understanding what we owe each other as citizens."

"A just society must structure its basic institutions to secure genuine opportunities for all."

"Citizens' moral capacities ground their equal standing in political society."

"Justice as fairness provides a framework for thinking about social cooperation among free people."

"The original position helps us identify principles no one could rationally reject."

"A stable and just society exhibits harmony between its principles and citizens' sense of justice."

"The basic structure of society is the primary subject of justice."

"We should aim at constructing principles that free and equal persons would agree to under fair conditions."

"A just society protects the fundamental interests of all its members."

"Original position thinking requires us to consider what rules we would accept if we did not know our place in society."

"Justice as fairness requires that inequalities benefit the least advantaged."

"Self-respect is perhaps the primary good in a well-ordered society."

"We must distinguish between what is merely legal and what is truly just."

"The veil of ignorance helps us recognize our common humanity."

"Freedom and equality are not in conflict but mutually reinforcing."

"A stable society requires principles that citizens can publicly endorse."

"Rationality involves pursuing our aims efficiently, but justice involves fair terms for all."

"We should design institutions so that no one would reasonably reject them."

"The circumstances of justice arise when people have conflicting interests but mutual advantage from cooperation."

"Civil disobedience can be justified when legal remedies fail and democratic institutions are not fundamentally sound."

"We owe it to future generations to preserve just institutions."

"Moral education develops the capacity to recognize and act on principles of justice."

"Society's structure shapes what individuals can become and achieve."

"Each person possesses an inviolability founded on justice that even the welfare of society cannot override."

"Fair equality of opportunity requires removing barriers based on circumstance of birth."

"The right is prior to the good in a just conception of society."