Quotes

“The Constitution preserves the advantage of being armed which Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation where the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.” James Madison

“The circulation of confidence is better than the circulation of money.” James Madison

“The purpose of separation of church and state is to keep forever from these shores the ceaseless strife that has soaked the soil of Europe with blood for centuries.” James Madison

“Where an excess of power prevails, property of no sort is duly respected. No man is safe in his opinions, his person, his faculties, or his possessions.” James Madison

“A well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained in arms, is the best most natural defense of a free country.” James Madison

“If men were angels, no government would be necessary.” James Madison

“No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.” James Madison

“A popular government without popular information or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce, or a tragedy, or perhaps both.” James Madison

“The means of defense against foreign danger historically have become the instruments of tyranny at home.” James Madison

“America was indebted to immigration for her settlement and prosperity. That part of America which had encouraged them most had advanced most rapidly in population, agriculture and the arts.” James Madison

“In Republics, the great danger is, that the majority may not sufficiently respect the rights of the minority.” James Madison

“And I have no doubt that every new example will succeed, as every past one has done, in showing that religion and Government will both exist in greater purity, the less they are mixed together.” James Madison

“Philosophy is common sense with big words.” James Madison

“All men having power ought to be distrusted to a certain degree.” James Madison

“Liberty may be endangered by the abuse of liberty, but also by the abuse of power.” James Madison

“Whenever a youth is ascertained to possess talents meriting an education which his parents cannot afford, he should be carried forward at the public expense.” James Madison

“A man has a property in his opinions and the free communication of them.” James Madison

“The class of citizens who provide at once their own food and their own raiment, may be viewed as the most truly independent and happy.” James Madison

“War should only be declared by the authority of the people, whose toils and treasures are to support its burdens, instead of the government which is to reap its fruits.” James Madison

“The loss of liberty at home is to be charged to the provisions against danger, real or imagined, from abroad.” James Madison

“The people are the only legitimate fountain of power, and it is from them that the constitutional charter, under which the several branches of government hold their power, is derived.” James Madison

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

“A well-instructed people alone can be permanently a free people.” James Madison

“Each generation should be made to bear the burden of its own wars, instead of carrying them on, at the expense of other generations.” James Madison

“Let me recommend the best medicine in the world: a long journey, at a mild season, through a pleasant country, in easy stages.” James Madison

“All that seems indispensible in stating the account between the dead and the living, is to see that the debts against the latter do not exceed the advances made by the former.” James Madison

“In no instance have... the churches been guardians of the liberties of the people.” James Madison

“Of all the enemies of public liberty, war is perhaps the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other.” James Madison

“Wherever there is interest and power to do wrong, wrong will generally be done.” James Madison

“The capacity of the female mind for studies of the highest order cannot be doubted, having been sufficiently illustrated by its works of genius, of erudition, and of science.” James Madison