“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
“War contains so much folly, as well as wickedness, that much is to be hoped from the progress of reason.”
– 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
“The executive has no right, in any case, to decide the question, whether there is or is not cause for declaring war.”
– 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
“If we are to take for the criterion of truth the majority of suffrages, they ought to be gotten from those philosophic and patriotic citizens who cultivate their reason.”
– 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 truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted.”
– 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
“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
“Americans have the right and advantage of being armed – unlike the citizens of other countries whose governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.”
– 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
“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
“In Republics, the great danger is, that the majority may not sufficiently respect the rights of the minority.”
– James Madison
“Religion flourishes in greater purity, without than with the aid of Government.”
– 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
“The essence of Government is power and power, lodged as it must be in human hands, will ever be liable to abuse.”
– James Madison
“Wherever there is interest and power to do wrong, wrong will generally be done.”
– James Madison
“The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted.”
– 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
“Liberty may be endangered by the abuse of liberty, but also by the abuse of power.”
– James Madison
“All men having power ought to be distrusted to a certain degree.”
– 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
“Knowledge will forever govern ignorance and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.”
– James Madison
“I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments by those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.”
– 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
“The circulation of confidence is better than the circulation of money.”
– James Madison
“All men having power ought to be distrusted to a certain degree.”
– James Madison
“If men were angels, no government would be necessary.”
– James Madison
“It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood.”
– James Madison