No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.
AUTHOR QUOTES
Quotes by James Madison
Explore 27 verified and sourced quotes attributed to James Madison. Open any quote for its dedicated page, source details and related topics.
EXPLORE BY TOPIC
Selected quotes by James Madison
Liberty may be endangered by the abuse of liberty, but also by the abuse of power.
Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.
If men were angels, no government would be necessary.
The circulation of confidence is better than the circulation of money.
If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.
Philosophy is common sense with big words.
What is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? 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.
The happy Union of these States is a wonder; their Constitution a miracle; their example the hope of Liberty throughout the world.
Do not separate text from historical background. If you do, you will have perverted and subverted the Constitution, which can only end in a distorted, bastardized form of illegitimate government.
In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.
The Constitution preserves the advantage of being armed which Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation where the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.
The people are the only legitimate fountain of power, and it is from them that the constitutional charter, under which the several branches of government hold their power, is derived.
A man has a property in his opinions and the free communication of them.
Where an excess of power prevails, property of no sort is duly respected. No man is safe in his opinions, his person, his faculties, or his possessions.
The advancement and diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty.
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.
A popular government without popular information or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce, or a tragedy, or perhaps both.
It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood.
America was indebted to immigration for her settlement and prosperity. That part of America which had encouraged them most had advanced most rapidly in population, agriculture and the arts.
A sincere and steadfast co-operation in promoting such a reconstruction of our political system as would provide for the permanent liberty and happiness of the United States.
In no instance have... the churches been guardians of the liberties of the people.
The essence of Government is power; and power, lodged as it must be in human hands, will ever be liable to abuse.
I should not regret a fair and full trial of the entire abolition of capital punishment.
More quotes attributed to James Madison are available across the Mayalines library.
Related author collections
Explore authors represented in the same topics.