All James Madison Quotes
- The temple through which alone lies the road to that of Liberty. Alone
- Liberty and order will never be perfectly safe until a trespass on the Constitution provisions for either, shall be felt with the same keenness that… Constitution
- An efficient militia is authorized and contemplated by the Constitution and required by the spirit and safety of free government. Authorized
- Let the influx of money be ever so great, if there be no confidence, property will sink in value... The circulation of confidence is better… Better
- A standing military force, with an overgrown Executive will not long be safe companions to liberty. Companion
- If it be asked what is to restrain the House of Representatives from making legal discriminations in favor of themselves and a particular class of… Actuates
- There is not a more important and fundamental principle in legislation, than that the ways and means ought always to face the public engagements; that… Appropriations
- If man is not fit to govern himself, how can he be fit to govern someone else? Fit
- 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… All
- They can make no law which will not have its full operation on themselves and their friends, as well as on the great mass of… Friends
- A government that does not trust it's law-abiding citizens to keep and bear arms is itself unworthy of trust. Abiding
- To consider the degree of concord which ultimately prevailed as less than a miracle. Concord
- Of all the objections which have been framed against the federal Constitution, this is perhaps the most extraordinary. Whilst the objection itself is levelled against… All
- The preservation of a free government requires not merely that the metes and bounds which separate each department of power be invariably maintained; but more… Authority
- Can it be of less consequence that the meaning of a Constitution should be fixed and known, than a meaning of a law should be… Consequence
- The proposed Constitution is, in strictness, neither a national nor a federal constitution; but a composition of both. Both
- In a free government the security for civil rights must be the same as that for religious rights. ...under the republican forms [of government], for… Been
- We look back, already, with astonishment, at the daring outrages committed by despotism, on the reason and rights of man; we look forward with joy,… All
- In proportion to the value of this revolution; in proportion to the importance of instruments, every word of which decides a question between power and… Acts
- As compacts, charters of government are superior in obligation to all others, because they give effect to all others. As truths, none can be more… All
- The citizens of the United States have peculiar motives to support the energy of their constitutional charters. Charter
- That the foundation of our national policy should be laid in private morality. If individuals be not influenced by moral principles, it is in vain… Adherence
- There is a degree of depravity in mankind which requires a certain degree of circumspection and distrust. Certain
- But the most deplorable effect of all, is that diminution of attachment and reverence, which steals into the hearts of the people, towards a political… All
- Nothing could be more irrational than to give the people power, and to withhold from them information without which power is abused. Abused