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.

“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.”

— James Madison

Happiness

All Quotes by James Madison

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

— James Madison

Government

“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 means of defense against foreign danger historically have become the instruments of tyranny at home.”

— James Madison

Home

“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

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

— James Madison

Power

“Whenever a youth is ascertained to possess talents meriting an education which his parents cannot afford, he should be carried forward at the public expense.”

— James Madison

Education

“The diversity in the faculties of men, from which the rights of property originate, is not less an insuperable obstacle to an uniformity of interests. The protection of these faculties is the first object of government.”

— James Madison

Government

“I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments by those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.”

— James Madison

Freedom

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

— James Madison

Knowledge

“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

“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

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

— James Madison

Hope

“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

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

— James Madison

Government

“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.”

— James Madison

Wisdom

“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.”

— James Madison

Home

“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

“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

“And I have no doubt that every new example will succeed, as every past one has done, in showing that religion and Government will both exist in greater purity, the less they are mixed together.”

— James Madison

Government

“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