James Madison Quotes

Quotes about:

• The future and success of America is not in this Constitution, but in the laws of God upon which this Constitution is founded.

  James Madison

  Law, America, Constitution

  298 Copy quote

• If our nation is ever taken over, it will be taken over from within.

  James Madison

  Taken, Over It, Nations

  216 Copy quote
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  Oppressors can tyrannize only when they achieve a standing army, an enslaved press, and a disarmed populace.

  James Madison

  Strength, Peace, Army

  265 Copy quote

• Crisis is the rallying cry of the tyrant.

  James Madison

  Rallying Cry, Tyrants, Presidential

  230 Copy quote
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  The purpose of the Constitution is to restrict the majority's ability to harm a minority.

  James Madison

  Majority, Minorities, Purpose

  206 Copy quote
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  Disarm the people- that is the best and most effective way to enslave them.

  James Madison

  Gun, People, Way

  120 Copy quote

• We have staked the whole future of our new nation, not upon the power of government; far from it. We have staked the future of all our political constitutions upon the capacity of each of ourselves to govern ourselves according to the moral principles of the Ten Commandments.

  James Madison

  Bible, God, Religious

  184 Copy quote

• If we advert to the nature of republican government, we shall find that the censorial power is in the people over the government, and not in the government over the people.

  James Madison

  Freedom, Government, People

  James Madison, David B. Mattern (1997). “James Madison's "Advice to My Country"”, p.95, University of Virginia Press

  9 Copy quote

• If man is not fit to govern himself, how can he be fit to govern someone else?

  James Madison

  Men, Fit, Ifs

  194 Copy quote

• Democracy is the most vile form of government.

  James Madison

  Government, Democracy, Form

  18 Copy quote

• The ultimate authority resides in the people, and that if the federal government got too powerful and overstepped its authority, then the people would develop plans of resistance and resort to arms.

  James Madison

  Powerful, Government, People

  31 Copy quote
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  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

  Education, Wisdom, Freedom

  1822; cited in U.S. Senate, Alleged Assassination Plots (1975).

  122 Copy quote

• We are free today substantially, but the day will come when our Republic will be an impossibility. It will be an impossibility because wealth will be concentrated in the hands of a few. A Republic cannot stand upon bayonets, and when the day comes when the wealth of the nation will be in the hands of a few, then we must rely upon the wisdom of the best elements in the country to readjust the laws of the nations to the changed conditions.

  James Madison

  Wisdom, Country, Hands

  149 Copy quote

• There is a degree of depravity in mankind which requires a certain degree of circumspection and distrust.

  James Madison

  Voting, Degrees, Depravity

  Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay (1842). “The Federalist, on the New Constitution, Written in the Year 1788”, p.259

  13 Copy quote
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  If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.

  James Madison

  Inspirational, Freedom, Fear

  "The Last Enemy" by Rebecca Sato, www.pbs.org. November 11, 2010.

  228 Copy quote

• The right of the citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and the state shall not be questioned.

  James Madison

  Bears, Defense, Citizens

  45 Copy quote

• Armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few.

  James Madison

  Army, Debt, Libertarian

  James Madison, David B. Mattern (1997). “James Madison's "Advice to My Country"”, p.106, University of Virginia Press

  19 Copy quote

• 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

  Patriotic, Blood, Europe

  84 Copy quote

• Democracy was the right of the people to choose their own tyrant.

  James Madison

  Tyrants, People, Democracy

  21 Copy quote

• The people shall not be deprived or abridged of their right to speak, or to publish their sentiments; and the freedom of the press, as one of the great bulwarks of liberty, shall be inviolable.

  James Madison

  People, President, Liberty

  James Madison, Ralph Ketcham “Selected Writings of James Madison”, Hackett Publishing

  47 Copy quote

• A President is impeachable if he attempts to subvert the Constitution.

  James Madison

  President, Constitution, Ifs

  41 Copy quote

• Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few... No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.

  James Madison

  Inspirational, War, Army

  "Political Observations" by James Madison, founders.archives.gov. April 20, 1795.

  17 Copy quote

• 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

  Freedom, Believe, Power

  Speech at Virginia Convention, 5 June 1788

  79 Copy quote

• The advancement and diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty.

  James Madison

  Education, Freedom, Inspirational Life

  James Madison, David B. Mattern (1997). “James Madison's "Advice to My Country"”, p.41, University of Virginia Press

  99 Copy quote

• A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.

  James Madison

  Gun, Libertarian Party, Assault Weapons

  James Madison, Gaillard Hunt, James Brown Scott (1999). “The Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787: Which Framed the Constitution of the United States of America”, p.690, The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd.

  58 Copy quote

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