James Madison Quotes

A well-instructed people alone can be permanently a free people.

If men were angels, no government would be necessary.

Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power that knowledge gives.

The advancement and diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty.

The purpose of separation of church and state is to keep forever from these shores the ceaseless strife that has soaked the soil of Europe in blood for centuries.

Wherever the real power in a government lies, there is the danger of oppression.

If tyranny and oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.

Conscience is the most sacred of all property.

If tyranny and oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.

If men were angels, no government would be necessary.

To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical idea.

Liberty may be endangered by the abuses of liberty, as well as by the abuses of power.

The circulation of confidence is better than the circulation of money.

The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted.

The blessings of liberty which the Americans enjoy are the fruits of their labor.

The means of defence against foreign danger have been always the instruments of tyranny at home.

James Madison Quotes part 2

War should only be declared by the authority of the people, whose toils and treasures are to support its burdens, instead of the government.

If we are to guard against ignorance and remain free, every American should be acquainted with his country’s history and geography.

The essence of government is power, and power, lodged as it must be in human hands, will ever be liable to abuse.

Equal laws protecting equal rights are the best guarantee of loyalty and love of country.

Let me recommend the best medicine in the world: a long journey, at a mild season, through a pleasant country, in easy stages.

Life is like a game of cards. The hand that is dealt you represents determinism; the way you play it is free will.”

No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.

Liberty is to faction what air is to fire, an ailment without which it instantly expires.

The happy Union of these States is a wonder; their Constitution a miracle; their example the hope of Liberty throughout the world.

If men were angels, no government would be necessary.

All men having power ought to be distrusted to a certain degree.

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 our appropriations should ever go hand in hand with our promises.

The circulation of confidence is better than the circulation of money.

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.

The fetters imposed on liberty at home have ever been forged out of the weapons provided for defence against real, pretended, or imaginary dangers from abroad.

To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical idea.

History records that the money changers have used every form of abuse, intrigue, deceit, and violent means possible to maintain their control over governments by controlling money and its issuance.

The Constitution of the United States is the first constitution of its kind, and it owes its birth to the genius of James Madison.

The purpose of separation of church and state is to keep forever from these shores the ceaseless strife that has soaked the soil of Europe in blood for centuries.

Education is the key to unlocking the golden door of freedom.

The means of defence against foreign danger, have been always the instruments of tyranny at home.

Opinion has caused more trouble on this little earth than plagues or earthquakes.

Democracy is the most vile form of government… 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.

Philosophy is common sense with big words.

The government of the United States is a definite government, confined to specified objects. It is not like the state governments.

Arbitrary power is most easily established on the ruins of liberty abused to licentiousness.

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.

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.

As a man is said to have a right to his property, he may be equally said to have a property in his rights.