Quotes

“There is no maxim, in my opinion, which is more liable to be misapplied, and which, therefore, more needs elucidation, than the current one, that the interest of the majority is the political standard of right and wrong.” James Madison

“The happy Union of these States is a wonder; their Constitution a miracle; their example the hope of Liberty throughout the world.” James Madison

“The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted.” James Madison

“By rendering the labor of one, the property of the other, they cherish pride, luxury, and vanity on one side; on the other, vice and servility, or hatred and revolt.” James Madison

“I have no doubt but that the misery of the lower classes will be found to abate whenever the Government assumes a freer aspect and the laws favor a subdivision of Property.” James Madison

“Perhaps it is a universal truth that the loss of liberty at home is to be charged to provisions against danger, real or pretended, from abroad.” James Madison

“The essence of Government is power; and power, lodged as it must be in human hands, will ever be liable to abuse.” James Madison

“As a man is said to have a right to his property, he may be equally said to have a property in his rights.” James Madison

“The executive has no right, in any case, to decide the question, whether there is or is not cause for declaring war.” James Madison

“What prudent merchant will hazard his fortunes in any new branch of commerce when he knows not that his plans may be rendered unlawful before they can be executed?” James Madison

“In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.” James Madison

“As long as the reason of man continues fallible, and he is at liberty to exercise it, different opinions will be formed.” James Madison

“The diversity in the faculties of men, from which the rights of property originate, is not less an insuperable obstacle to an uniformity of interests. The protection of these faculties is the first object of government.” James Madison

“To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical idea.” James Madison

“What is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary.” James Madison

“Despotism can only exist in darkness, and there are too many lights now in the political firmament to permit it to remain anywhere, as it has heretofore done, almost everywhere.” James Madison

“A pure democracy is a society consisting of a small number of citizens, who assemble and administer the government in person.” James Madison

“Commercial shackles are generally unjust, oppressive, and impolitic.” James Madison

“A sincere and steadfast co-operation in promoting such a reconstruction of our political system as would provide for the permanent liberty and happiness of the United States.” James Madison

“Ambition must be made to counteract ambition.” James Madison

“We are right to take alarm at the first experiment upon our liberties.” James Madison

“Every nation whose affairs betray a want of wisdom and stability may calculate on every loss which can be sustained from the more systematic policy of its wiser neighbors.” James Madison

“Religion flourishes in greater purity, without than with the aid of Government.” James Madison

“Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise, every expanded prospect.” James Madison

“The advancement and diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty.” James Madison

“The personal right to acquire property, which is a natural right, gives to property, when acquired, a right to protection, as a social right.” James Madison

“The rights of persons, and the rights of property, are the objects, for the protection of which Government was instituted.” James Madison

“To the press alone, chequered as it is with abuses, the world is indebted for all the triumphs which have been gained by reason and humanity over error and oppression.” James Madison

“Union of religious sentiments begets a surprising confidence.” James Madison

“Any reading not of a vicious species must be a good substitute for the amusements too apt to fill up the leisure of the labouring classes.” James Madison