Kindlehighlight Quote by Joseph J. Ellis

A public debt is a public curse.

— James Madison

I go on the principle that a public debt is a public curse, and in a Republican Government a greater curse than any other.

— James Madison

I go on the principle that a public debt is a public curse and in a republican government more than in any other.

— James Madison

“As far as they were concerned, if the U.S. government did not extinguish its debt, there would always be public creditors. Those creditors, who…

— Kevin R.C. Gutzman

I regret, as much as any member, the unavoidable weight and duration of the burdens to be imposed; having never been a proselyte to…

— James Madison

“It is clear from the writings of our founding fathers that they disagreed with such excessive taxation to redistribute wealth. In the Annals of…

— Ben Carson

“The sense that just about anything goes with the collection of public revenues and the making of public expenditure has contributed mightily to the…

— Richard Epstein

“THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS GOOD DEBT. Some”

— Joshua Fields Millburn

Public debt [is] a burden on all the people.

— Calvin Coolidge

“All the perplexities, confusions, and distresses in America arise, not from defects in their constitution or confederation, nor from want of honor or virtue,…

— John Adams

Debt is the fatal disease of republics, the first thing and the mightiest to undermine governments and corrupt the people.

— Wendell Phillips

“It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half the…

— D.R. Bell