J

James Madison

50 quotes

James Madison (1751–1836) was an American statesman who served as the fourth President of the United States. Known as the "Father of the Constitution," Madison played a central role in drafting and promoting the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights. His political writings, particularly the Federalist Papers, remain foundational texts of democratic governance.

“War should only be declared by the authority of the people, whose toils and treasures are to support its burdens, instead of the government which is to reap its fruits.”

— James Madison

Government

All Quotes by James Madison

“A man has a property in his opinions and the free communication of them.”

— James Madison

Communication

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

— James Madison

War

“Liberty may be endangered by the abuse of liberty, but also by the abuse of power.”

— James Madison

Power

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

— James Madison

Government

“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.”

— James Madison

Power

“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.”

— James Madison

Truth

“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.”

— James Madison

Men

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

— James Madison

Freedom

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

— James Madison

Alone

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

— James Madison

Men

“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.”

— James Madison

Government

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

— James Madison

Knowledge

“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.”

— James Madison

Science

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

— James Madison

Government

“A well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained in arms, is the best most natural defense of a free country.”

— James Madison

Best

“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.”

— James Madison

War

“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.”

— James Madison

Government

“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.”

— James Madison

Trust

“I have no doubt but that the misery of the lower classes will be found to abate whenever the Government assumes a freer aspect and the laws favor a subdivision of Property.”

— James Madison

Government

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

— James Madison

Government