“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.”
Government“Do not separate text from historical background. If you do, you will have perverted and subverted the Constitution, which can only end in a distorted, bastardized form of illegitimate government.”
Government“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.”
Government“In Republics, the great danger is, that the majority may not sufficiently respect the rights of the minority.”
Great“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.”
Power“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.”
Home“The advancement and diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty.”
Knowledge“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.”
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.”
Best“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.”
Government“Learned Institutions ought to be favorite objects with every free people. They throw that light over the public mind which is the best security against crafty and dangerous encroachments on the public liberty.”
Best“The rights of persons, and the rights of property, are the objects, for the protection of which Government was instituted.”
Government“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.”
Government“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.”
Education“Religion flourishes in greater purity, without than with the aid of Government.”
Government“Liberty may be endangered by the abuse of liberty, but also by the abuse of power.”
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.”
Government“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.”
Truth“Do not separate text from historical background. If you do, you will have perverted and subverted the Constitution, which can only end in a distorted, bastardized form of illegitimate government.”
Government“War contains so much folly, as well as wickedness, that much is to be hoped from the progress of reason.”
War“Let me recommend the best medicine in the world: a long journey, at a mild season, through a pleasant country, in easy stages.”
Best“A pure democracy is a society consisting of a small number of citizens, who assemble and administer the government in person.”
Government