James Madison Quotes

Biography: James Madison is known as the "Father of the Constitution" and the 4th... more Biography: James Madison is known as the "Father of the Constitution" and the 4th President of the United States. He played a key role in drafting the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights. His leadership during the War of 1812 and his contributions to the Federalist Papers highlight his influence on American governance. less

"The legitimate meaning of the Constitution is not to be found in metaphysical subtleties""No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare""Liberty is to faction what air is to fire, an aliment without which it instantly expires""The interests of the man must be connected with the constitutional rights of the place""Let me recommend the best medicine in the world: a long journey, at a mild season, through a pleasant country, in easy stages""The diversity in the faculties of men, from which the rights of property originate, is not less an insuperable obstacle to a uniformity of interests""A pure democracy is a society consisting of a small number of citizens, who assemble and administer the government in person""If virtue and knowledge are diffused among the people, they will never be enslaved""In our governments, the real power lies in the majority of the community, and the invasion of private rights is chiefly to be apprehended, not from acts of government contrary to the sense of its constituents, but from acts in which the government is the mere instrument of the major number of the constituents.""The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny. ""War should only be declared by the authority of the people, whose toils and treasures are to sustain its burdens, instead of the government which is to reap its fruits. ""Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise. ""The operations of the federal government will be most extensive and important in times of war and danger; those of the State governments in times of peace and security. ""In framing a government, 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""The safety and happiness of society are the objects at which all political institutions aim""If our nation is ever taken over, it will be taken over from within""The ultimate authority, wherever the derivative may be found, resides in the people alone""The government will neither believe itself to possess the power, nor permit it to be usurped by others""If men were angels no government would be necessary""We are right to take alarm at the first experiment upon our liberties"

1 2 3 Next