George Mason Quotes

Quotes about:

• Considering the natural lust for power so inherent in man, I fear the thirst of power will prevail to oppress the people.

  George Mason

  Wisdom, Men, People

  40 Copy quote
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  To disarm the people... was the best and most effectual way to enslave them.

  George Mason

  Strength, Peace, Gun

  George Mason's address to the Virginia Ratifying Convention, June 14, 1788.

  110 Copy quote

• I ask, sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people except for a few public officials.

  George Mason

  Gun, People, Second Amendment

  89 Copy quote

• That no free government, nor the blessings of liberty, can be preserved to any people, but by a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality, and virtue; by frequent recurrence to fundamental principles; and by the recognition by all citizens that they have duties as well as rights, and that such rights cannot be enjoyed save in a society where law is respected and due process is observed.

  George Mason

  Blessing, Rights, Government

  13 Copy quote

• We came equals into this world, and equals shall we go out of it.

  George Mason

  World, Civil Rights, This World

  George Mason's remarks on Annual Elections for the Fairfax Independent Company, circa April 1775.

  42 Copy quote

• The laws of nature are the laws of God, whose authority can be superseded by no power on earth.

  George Mason

  Patriotic, Law, Earth

  25 Copy quote

• Don't wait around for your life to happen to you. Find something that makes you happy, and do it. Because everything else is all just background noise.

  George Mason

  Background Noise, Waiting, Make You Happy

  31 Copy quote

• The freedom of the press is one of the great bulwarks of liberty, and can never be restrained but by despotic governments.

  George Mason

  Government, Liberty, Freedom Of The Press

  Virginia Bill of Rights article 12 (1776)

  97 Copy quote

• The Laws of Nature are the Laws of God, Whose authority can be superseded by no power on earth. A legislature must not obstruct our obedience to Him from whose punishment they cannot protect us. All human constitutions which contradict His laws, we are in conscience bound to disobey.

  George Mason

  Law, Punishment, Earth

  5 Copy quote

• Government is, or ought to be instituted for the common benefit, protection, and security of the people, nation, or community... when any government shall be found inadequate or contrary to these purposes, a majority of the community hath an indubitable, inalienable, and indefeasible right to reform, alter, or abolish it, in such manner as shall be judged most conducive to the public weal.

  George Mason

  Government, People, Community

  Virginia Declaration of Rights (Article 3), June 12, 1776.

  12 Copy quote

• When the resolution of enslaving America was formed in Great Britain, the British parliament was advised by an artful man [Sir William Keith], who was governor of Pennsylvania, to disarm the people. That it was the best and most effectual way to enslave them. But that they should not do it openly; but to weaken them and let them sink gradually, by totally disusing and neglecting the militia.

  George Mason

  Men, Gun, America

  George Mason's address to the Virginia Ratifying Convention, June 14, 1788.

  58 Copy quote

• All men are created equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights, of which they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their posterity; among which are the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing the obtaining of happiness and safety.

  George Mason

  Mean, Independent, Equality

  7 Copy quote

• A well-regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained to arms, is the proper, natural, and safe defense of a free state; that standing armies, in time of peace, should be avoided as dangerous to liberty; and that in all cases the military should be under strict subordination to, and governed by, the civil power.

  George Mason

  Army, Gun, People

  30 Copy quote

• Those gentlemen, who will be elected senators, will fix themselves in the federal town, and become citizens of that town more than of your state.

  George Mason

  Political, Voting, Gentleman

  27 Copy quote

• No point is of more importance than that the right of impeachment should be continued. Shall any man be above Justice?

  George Mason

  Men, Justice, Should

  24 Copy quote

• All power is lodged in, and consequently derived from, the people. We should wear it as a breastplate, and buckle it on as our armour.

  George Mason

  People, Revolution, Should

  7 Copy quote

• That all power of suspending laws, or the execution of laws, by any authority, without consent of the representatives of the people, is injurious to their rights, and ought not to be exercised.

  George Mason

  Law, Rights, People

  "The Federal and State Constitutions Colonial Charters, and Other Organic Laws of the States, Territories, and Colonies Now or Heretofore Forming the United States of America" compiled and edited by Newton Thorpe, Washington, DC : Government Printing Office, 1909.

  8 Copy quote

• Nothing so strongly impels a man to regard the interest of his constituents, as the certainty of returning to the general mass of the people, from whence he was taken, where he must participate in their burdens.

  George Mason

  Taken, Men, People

  25 Copy quote

• The augmentation of slaves weakens the states; and such a trade is diabolical in itself, and disgraceful to mankind.

  George Mason

  Slavery, States, Mankind

  George Mason's address to the Virginia Ratifying Convention, June 17, 1788.

  10 Copy quote

• The question then will be, whether a consolidated government can preserve the freedom and secure the rights of the people.

  George Mason

  Rights, Government, People

  "The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution", vol. 3, edited by Jonathan Elliot, 1974.

  17 Copy quote

• I charge [my sons] never to let the motives of private interest or ambition to influence them to betray, nor the terrors of poverty and disgrace, or the fear of danger or of death deter them from asserting the liberty of their country, and endeavoring to transmit to their posterity those sacred rights to which themselves were born

  George Mason

  Country, Ambition, Son

  4 Copy quote

• Happiness and Prosperity are now within our Reach; but to attain and preserve them must depend upon our own Wisdom and Virtue.

  George Mason

  Prosperity, Virtue, Depends

  Letter to William Cabell, May 6, 1783.

  19 Copy quote

• All men are by nature born equally free and independent.

  George Mason

  Freedom, Independent, Men

  George Mason's remarks on Annual Elections for the Fairfax Independent Company, circa April 1775.

  11 Copy quote

• We are now to rank among the nations of the world; but whether our Independence shall prove a blessing or a curse must depend upon our own wisdom or folly, virtue or wickedness.... Justice and virtue are the vital principles of republican government.

  George Mason

  Blessing, Government, Justice

  10 Copy quote

• In all our associations; in all our agreements let us never lose sight of this fundamental maxim - that all power was originally lodged in, and consequently is derived from, the people.

  George Mason

  Sight, Agreement, People

  George Mason's remarks on Annual Elections for the Fairfax Independent Company, circa April 1775.

  22 Copy quote

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