James Madison Quotes - Page 3

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• Despotism can only exist in darkness.

  James Madison

  Darkness, Firmament, Despotism

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

  21 Copy quote
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  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

  War, Liberty, Bears

  James Madison (1865). “Letters and other writings of James Madison”, p.471

  53 Copy quote

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

  James Madison

  Government, Ideas, People

  James Madison, David B. Mattern (1997). “James Madison's "Advice to My Country"”, p.24, University of Virginia Press

  64 Copy quote

• [Y]ou will understand the game behind the curtain too well not to perceive the old trick of turning every contingency into a resource for accumulating force in the government.

  James Madison

  Government, Games, Resources

  James Madison (1867). “1794-1815”, p.7

  5 Copy quote

• All power in human hands is liable to be abused.

  James Madison

  Hands, Presidential, Liable

  James Madison, David B. Mattern (1997). “James Madison's "Advice to My Country"”, p.80, University of Virginia Press

  8 Copy quote

• The governments of Europe are afraid to trust the people with arms. If they did, the people would certainly shake off the yoke of tyranny, as America did.

  James Madison

  Gun, Government, Europe

  75 Copy quote

• The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite. The former will be exercised principally on external objects, as war, peace, negotiation and foreign commerce. ... The powers reserved to the several States will extend to all the objects which in the ordinary course of affairs, concern the lives and liberties, and properties of the people, and the internal order, improvement and prosperity of the State.

  James Madison

  War, Government, Order

  74 Copy quote

• People will continue to seek justice until it is found, or until liberty is lost in the pursuit.

  James Madison

  People, Justice, Liberty

  10 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

• Cursed be all that learning that is contrary to the cross of Christ.

  James Madison

  Bible, God, Education

  68 Copy quote

• The means of defense against foreign danger historically have become the instruments of tyranny at home.

  James Madison

  Freedom, War, Mean

  70 Copy quote

• The right of freely examining public characters and measures, and of free communication among the people thereon . . . has ever been justly deemed the only effectual guardian of every other right.

  James Madison

  Communication, Character, People

  Virginia. General Assembly. House of Delegates, J. W. Randolph, James Madison (1850). “The Virginia Report of 1799-1800: Touching the Alien and Sedition Laws; Together with the Virginia Resolutions of December 21, 1798, Including the Debate and Proceedings Thereon in the House of Delegates of Virginia and Other Documents Illustrative of the Report and Resolutions”, p.23

  50 Copy quote

• No error is more certain than the one proceeding from a hasty and superficial view of the subject.

  James Madison

  Errors, Views, Superficial

  James Madison (1867). “Letters and Other Writings of James Madison”, p.277

  50 Copy quote

• The truth was that all men having power ought to be distrusted to a certain degree.

  James Madison

  Truth, Men, Presidential

  James Madison's notes on the debates in the Federal Convention, avalon.law.yale.edu. July 11, 1787.

  30 Copy quote

• The circulation of confidence is better than the circulation of money.

  James Madison

  Confidence, Money, Self Esteem

  James Madison (1836). “The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution: As Recommended by the General Convention at Philadelphia in 1787. Together with the Journal of the Federal Convention, Luther Martin's Letter, Yates's Minutes, Congressional Opinions, Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions of '98-'99, and Other Illustrations of the Constitution”, p.538

  88 Copy quote

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

  James Madison

  Power, Hands, Essence

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

  29 Copy quote

• Philosophy is common sense with big words.

  James Madison

  Philosophy, Medicine, Common Sense

  13 Copy quote

• That is not a just government, nor is property secure under it, where the property which a man has in his personal safety and personal liberty, is violated by arbitrary seizures of one class of citizens for the service of the rest.

  James Madison

  Men, Class, Safety

  James Madison (1865). “Letters and other writings of James Madison”, p.479

  42 Copy quote

• The people can never willfully betray their own interests: But they may possibly be betrayed by the representatives of the people; and the danger will be evidently greater where the whole legislative trust is lodged in the hands of one body of men, than where the concurrence of separate and dissimilar bodies is required in every public act.

  James Madison

  Men, Hands, People

  James Madison, John Jay (1847). “The Federalist, on the New Constitution, Written in the Year 1788”, p.255

  56 Copy quote

• We are right to take alarm at the first experiment upon our liberties.

  James Madison

  Liberty, Alarms, Tyranny Founding Fathers

  37 Copy quote

• Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise.... During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What have been its fruits? More or less, in all places, pride and indolence in the clergy; ignorance and servility in laity; in both, superstition, bigotry, and persecution.

  James Madison

  Religious, Atheist, Ignorance

  83 Copy quote

• What a perversion of the normal order of things! ... to make power the primary and central object of the social system, and Liberty but its satellite.

  James Madison

  Order, Liberty, Normal

  20 Copy quote

• That the foundation of our national policy should be laid in private morality. If individuals be not influenced by moral principles, it is in vain to look for public virtue; it is, therefore, the duty of legislators to enforce, both by precept and example, the utility, as well as the necessity, of a strict adherence to the rules of distributive justice.

  James Madison

  Justice, Voting, Foundation

  45 Copy quote

• 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. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself. A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions.

  James Madison

  Lying, Angel, Men

  Thomas Paine, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay (2017). “The Origin of the Nation: Declaration of Independence, Constitution, Bill of Rights and Other Amendments, Federalist Papers & Common Sense: Creating America - Landmark Documents that Shaped a New Nation”, p.308, Madison & Adams Press

  36 Copy quote

• Temporary deviations from fundamental principles are always more or less dangerous. When the first pretext fails, those who become interested in prolonging the evil will rarely be at a loss for other pretexts.

  James Madison

  Loss, Evil, Liberty

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

  11 Copy quote

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