James Madison

“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.”

“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.”

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

“A pure democracy is a society consisting of a small number of citizens, who assemble and administer the government in person.”

“The rights of persons, and the rights of property, are the objects, for the protection of which Government was instituted.”

“Religion flourishes in greater purity, without than with the aid of Government.”

“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.”

“The loss of liberty at home is to be charged to the provisions against danger, real or imagined, from abroad.”

“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.”

“Perhaps it is a universal truth that the loss of liberty at home is to be charged to provisions against danger, real or pretended, from abroad.”

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

“What spectacle can be more edifying or more seasonable, than that of Liberty and Learning, each leaning on the other for their mutual and surest support?”

“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.”

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

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

“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.”

“Wherever there is interest and power to do wrong, wrong will generally be done.”

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

“The capacity of the female mind for studies of the highest order cannot be doubted, having been sufficiently illustrated by its works of genius, of erudition, and of science.”

“Americans have the right and advantage of being armed - unlike the citizens of other countries whose governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.”

“If we are to take for the criterion of truth the majority of suffrages, they ought to be gotten from those philosophic and patriotic citizens who cultivate their reason.”

“The executive has no right, in any case, to decide the question, whether there is or is not cause for declaring war.”

“War contains so much folly, as well as wickedness, that much is to be hoped from the progress of reason.”

“Every nation whose affairs betray a want of wisdom and stability may calculate on every loss which can be sustained from the more systematic policy of its wiser neighbors.”