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James Madison

James Madison Quotes

4th U.S. President

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Famous James Madison Quotes

“Rulers who wished to subvert the public liberty, may have found an established Clergy convenient auxiliaries. A just Government instituted to secure & perpetuate it needs them not.”

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Book:Selected Writings of James Madison
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“In war, too, the discretionary power of the Executive is extended; its influence in dealing out offices, honors, and emoluments is multiplied; and all the meaning of seducing the minds, are added to those of subduing the force, of the people. The same malignant aspect in republicanism may be traced in the inequality of fortunes, and the opportunities of fraud, growing out of a state of war, and in the degeneracy of manners and morals, engendered by both. No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.”

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Author:James Madison
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“A zeal for different opinions concerning religion, concerning government, and many other points, as well of speculation as of practice; an attachment to different leaders ambitiously contending for pre-eminence and power; or to persons of other descriptions whose fortunes have been interesting to the human passions, have, in turn, divided mankind into parties, inflamed them with mutual animosity, and rendered them much more disposed to vex and oppress each other than to co-operate for their common good.”

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Book:The Federalist, on the New Constitution, Written in the Year 1788
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“Conscience is the most sacred of all property; other property depending in part on positive law, the exercise of that being a natural and unalienable right. To guard a man's house as his castle, to pay public and enforce private debts with the most exact faith, can give no title to invade a man's conscience, which is more sacred than his castle, or to withhold from it that debt of protection for which the public faith is pledged by the very nature and original conditions of the social pact.”

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Book:Letters and Other Writings of James Madison
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“Hence it is that such democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths. Theoretic politicians, who have patronized this species of government, have erroneously supposed that by reducing mankind to a perfect equality in their political rights, they would, at the same time, be perfectly equalized and assimilated in their possessions, their opinions, and their passions.”

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Book:The Fœderalist: A Collection of Essays, Written in Favor of the New Constitution, as Agreed Upon by the Fœderal Convention, September 17, 1787. Reprinted from the Original Text. With an Historical Introduction and Notes
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“In time of actual war, great discretionary powers are constantly given to the Executive Magistrate. Constant apprehension of War, has the same tendency to render the head too large for the body. A standing military force, with an overgrown Executive will not long be safe companions to liberty.”

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Book:The Writings of James Madison: 1787. The journal of the Constitutional convention
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“So strong is this propensity of mankind to fall into mutual animosities, that where no substantial occasion presents itself, the most frivolous and fanciful distinctions have been sufficient to kindle their unfriendly passions and excite their most violent conflicts. But the most common and durable source of factions has been the various and unequal distribution of property.”

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Book:The Federalist, on the New Constitution, Written in the Year 1788
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“Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.”

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Author:James Madison
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“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.”

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Author:James Madison
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“No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.”

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Book:Selected Writings of James Madison
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“It is a universal truth that the loss of liberty at home is to be charged to the provisions against danger, real or pretended, from abroad.”

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Book:James Madison's
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“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.”

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Book:The Federalist, on the New Constitution: Written in 1788
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“Of all the enemies of public liberty, war is perhaps the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other.”

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Book:Selected Writings of James Madison
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“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.”

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Author:James Madison
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“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.”

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Author:James Madison
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“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.”

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Book: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
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“I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents.”

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Author:James Madison
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“The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, selfappointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.”

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Author:James Madison
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“The means of defence against foreign danger have been always the instruments of tyranny at home. Among the Romans it was a standing maxim to excite a war, whenever a revolt was apprehended. Throughout all Europe, the armies kept up under the pretext of defending, have enslaved the people.”

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Book:The Writings of James Madison: 1787. The journal of the Constitutional convention
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“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.”

MindHas BeensReligionReligiousChristianityAtheismCenturyIgnorancePrideConstitutionFruitAtheistNobleTrialsEnterpriseBigotryEstablishmentSuperstitionsFifteenSecularPersecutionFoundingBondageChurch And StateSeparation Of Church And StateOur Founding FathersFounding Fathers ChristianPhilosophy Of ReligionUs Founding FathersClergyIndolenceFounding Fathers ReligionSeparation Between Church And StateShacklesFounding Fathers ReligiousReligion GodFederalistFounding Fathers Anti ReligionFounding Fathers Of AmericaFounding AmericaFederalist PapersAmerican Founding FathersFounding Fathers AtheistReligious PhilosophyDeismChristianity From Founding FathersReligion And PoliticsChristian AtheistReligion ChristianPhilosophy And ReligionReligion And GovernmentFaith ReligionServilityReligious PersecutionReligious BigotryChristianity And GovernmentChristian Persecution
Author:James Madison
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“Democracies have been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their death.”

Has BeensFoundFreedomLibertyDemocracyRightsSecurityPropertyLibertarianViolentTyrannyFoundersFederal GovernmentSovereigntyFoundingFreedom And LibertyForms Of GovernmentFreedom LibertyPrivate PropertyProperty RightsLimited GovernmentDemocracies HaveFactionsContentionForefathersIndividual RightsFederalistLimiting GovernmentSpectaclesFederalist PapersTurbulenceLimited FreedomFounding Fathers DemocracyLimiting FreedomPersonal LibertyUnalienable RightsElectoral CollegeMajority RulePolitical RightsTyranny Founding FathersDemocracy In AmericaViolent DeathSecurity And FreedomPersonal SecuritySecurity And LibertyPersonal Rights
Book:The Federalist, on the New Constitution, Written in the Year 1788
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“The interest of the man must be connected with the constitutional rights of the place. It may be a reflection on human nature, that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses of Government. But what is Government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature?”

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Book:The Federalist, on the New Constitution, Written in the Year 1788
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“If Congress can do whatever in their discretion can be done by money, and will promote the General Welfare, the Government is no longer a limited one, possessing enumerated powers, but an indefinite one.”

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Book:James Madison's
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“Who does not see that the same authority which can establish Christianity, in exclusion of all other Religions, may establish with the same ease any particular sect of Christians, in exclusion of all other Sects?”

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Author:James Madison
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“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.”

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Author:James Madison
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“With respect to the words "general welfare," I have always regarded them as qualified by the detail of powers connected with them. To take them in a literal and unlimited sense would be a metamorphosis of the Constitution into a character which there is a host of proofs was not contemplated by its creators.”

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Author:James Madison
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“A zeal for different opinions concerning religion...[has] divided mankind into parties, inflamed them with mutual animosity, and rendered them much more disposed to vex and oppress each other than to co-operate for their common good.”

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Book:The Federalist: A Commentary on the Constitution of the United States
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“The latent causes of faction are thus sown in the nature of man; and we see them everywhere brought into different degrees of activity, according to the different circumstances of civil society.”

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Book:The Federalist Papers: A Collection of Essays Written in Favour of the New Constitution
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“As long as the reason of man continues fallible, and he is at liberty to exercise it, different opinions will be formed. As long as the connection subsists between his reason and his self-love, his opinions and passions will have a reciprocal influence on each other, and the former will be objects to which the latter attach themselves.”

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Book:The Fœderalist: A Collection of Essays, Written in Favor of the New Constitution, as Agreed Upon by the Fœderal Convention, September 17, 1787. Reprinted from the Original Text. With an Historical Introduction and Notes
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“A pure Democracy, by which I mean a Society consisting of a small number of citizens, who assemble and administer the Government in person, can admit of no cure for the mischiefs of faction. A common passion or interest will, in almost every case, be felt by a majority of the whole; a communication and concert result from the form of Government itself; and there is nothing to check the inducements to sacrifice the weaker party, or an obnoxious individual. Hence it is, that such Democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security, or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives, as they have been violent in their deaths.”

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Author:James Madison
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“Besides the advantage of being armed, which the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation, the existence of subordinate governments, to which the people are attached, and by which the militia officers are appointed, forms a barrier against the enterprises of ambition, more insurmountable than any which a simple government of any form can admit of.”

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Book:The Federalist, on the New Constitution, Written in the Year 1788
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