James Madison Quotes - Page 5

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• Justice is the end of government. It is the end of civil society. It ever has been and ever will be pursued until it be obtained, or until liberty be lost in the pursuit.

  James Madison

  Government, Justice, Voting

  Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay (1842). “The Federalist, on the New Constitution, Written in the Year 1788”, p.241

  61 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

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• 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

  Parent, Liberty, Youth

  "Public Education Isn't Socialism, and Neither Is Liz Warren" by Charles P. Pierce, www.esquire.com. November 9, 2011.

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• An alliance or coalition between Government and religion cannot be too carefully guarded against......Every new and successful example therefore of a PERFECT SEPARATION between ecclesiastical and civil matters is of importance........religion and government will exist in greater purity, without (rather) than with the aid of government.

  James Madison

  Successful, Government, Perfect

  15 Copy quote

• 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

  Peace, War, Government

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

  13 Copy quote

• The aim of every political Constitution, is or ought to be first to obtain for rulers men who possess most wisdom to discern, and most virtue to pursue, the common good of society; and in the next place, to take the most effectual precautions for keeping them virtuous whilst they continue to hold their public trust.

  James Madison

  Trust, Men, Political

  Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay (2003). “The Federalist: With Letters of Brutus”, p.277, Cambridge University Press

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• That is not a just government where arbitrary restrictions, exemptions, and monopolies deny to part of its citizens that free use of their faculties, and free choice of their occupations.

  James Madison

  Government, Choices, Citizens

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

  6 Copy quote

• In the latter sense, a man has a property in his opinions and the free communication of them. He has a property of peculiar value in his religious opinions, and in the profession and practice dictated by them. He has an equal property in the free use of his faculties and free choice of the objects on which to employ them. In a word, 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

  Religious, Communication, Men

  "Advice to My Country".

  9 Copy quote

• It is the duty of every man to render to the Creator such homage...Before any man can be considered as a member of Civil Society, he must be considered as a subject of the Governor of the Universe.

  James Madison

  Men, Religion, Members

  "Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments To the Honorable the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia" by James Madison, June 20, 1785.

  12 Copy quote

• No man can be a competent legislator who does not add to an upright intention and a sound judgment a certain degree of knowledge of the subject on which he is to legislate.

  James Madison

  Men, Sound, Degrees

  James Madison, John Jay (1847). “The Federalist, on the New Constitution, Written in the Year 1788”, p.216

  8 Copy quote

• Knowledge will forever govern ignorance.

  James Madison

  Ignorance, Forever

  Letter toW. T. Barry, 4 Aug. 1822

  7 Copy quote

• 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

  Men, Rights, Liberty

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

  46 Copy quote

• It is a misfortune incident to republican government, though in a less degree than to other governments, that those who administer it, may forget their obligations to their constituents, and prove unfaithful to their important trust.

  James Madison

  Government, Important, Degrees

  Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay (1852). “The Federalist: On the New Constitution, Written in 1788”, p.285

  17 Copy quote

• Liberty is to faction what air is to fire.

  James Madison

  Fire, Air, Liberty

  The Federalist no. 10 (1788)

  18 Copy quote

• Liberty may be endangered by the abuse of liberty, but also by the abuse of power.

  James Madison

  Patriotic, Power, Presidential

  44 Copy quote

• To provide employment for the poor, and support for the indigent, is among the primary, and, at the same time, not least difficult cares of the public authority.

  James Madison

  Support, Employment, Care

  James Madison (1867). “1816-1828”, p.162

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• Is there no virtue among us? If there be not, we are in a wretched situation. No theoretical checks-no form of government can render us secure. To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical idea, if there be sufficient virtue and intelligence in the community, it will be exercised in the selection of these men. So that we do not depend on their virtue, or put confidence in our rulers, but in the people who are to choose them.

  James Madison

  Men, Ideas, People

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

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• But the mild voice of reason, pleading the cause of an enlarged and permanent interest, is but too often drowned, before public bodies as well as individuals, by the clamors of an impatient avidity for immediate and immoderate gain.

  James Madison

  Voice, People, Body

  Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay (1852). “The Federalist, on the new constitution, written in 1788, with an appendix, containing the letters of Pacificus and Helvidius on the proclamation of neutrality of 1793, also the original articles of confederation and the constitution of the United States”, p.196

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• Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.

  James Madison

  Exercise, Secular Society, Law

  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.136

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• Nothing could be more irrational than to give the people power, and to withhold from them information without which power is abused.

  James Madison

  People, Giving, Information

  4 Copy quote

• The growing wealth aquired by them corporations never fails to be a source of abuses.

  James Madison

  Abuse, Democracy, Growing

  11 Copy quote

• The powers of the federal government are enumerated; it can only operate in certain cases; it has legislative powers on defined and limited objects, beyond which it cannot extend its jurisdiction.

  James Madison

  Wisdom, Government, Cases

  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.95

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• But ambitious encroachments of the federal government, on the authority of the State governments, would not excite the opposition of a single State, or of a few States only. They would be signals of general alarm . . . But what degree of madness could ever drive the federal government to such an extremity.

  James Madison

  Government, Ambitious, Federalism

  Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay (1842). “The Federalist, on the New Constitution, Written in the Year 1788”, p.220

  41 Copy quote

• Although all men are born free, slavery has been the general lot of the human race. Ignorant--they have been cheated; asleep--they have been surprised; divided--the yoke has been forced upon them. But what is the lesson...? The people ought to be enlightened, to be awakened, to be united, that after establishing a government they should watch over it.... It is universally admitted that a well-instructed people alone can be permanently free.

  James Madison

  Men, Race, People

  23 Copy quote

• We have seen the mere distinction of color made in the most enlightened period of time, a ground of the most oppressive dominion ever exercised by man over man.

  James Madison

  Men, Color, Slavery

  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, Yate's Minutes, Congressional Opinions, Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions of '98-'99, and Other Illustrations of the Constitution”

  8 Copy quote

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