James Madison Quotes

If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.
James Madison

Enemy, Fighting, Tyranny

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, Power, Knowledge

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, Afraid, Advantage

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

Power, Freedom, Silent

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, Cannot, Choice

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

Money, Confidence

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.
James Madison

Government, End, Historical

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.
James Madison

Trust, Afraid, Nation

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 with blood for centuries.
James Madison

Keep, Purpose, State

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, Country, Free

If men were angels, no government would be necessary.
James Madison

Government, Men, Necessary

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

Freedom, Nation, Warfare

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, Person, Opinions

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.
James Madison

Government, Means, Both

The means of defense against foreign danger historically have become the instruments of tyranny at home.
James Madison

Home, Become, Against

In Republics, the great danger is, that the majority may not sufficiently respect the rights of the minority.
James Madison

Great, Respect, May

Philosophy is common sense with big words.
James Madison

Words, Philosophy, Big

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

Men, Power, Degree

Liberty may be endangered by the abuse of liberty, but also by the abuse of power.
James Madison

Power, May, Liberty

A man has a property in his opinions and the free communication of them.
James Madison

Communication, Free, Opinions

The class of citizens who provide at once their own food and their own raiment, may be viewed as the most truly independent and happy.
James Madison

Food, Happy, May

America was indebted to immigration for her settlement and prosperity. That part of America which had encouraged them most had advanced most rapidly in population, agriculture and the arts.
James Madison

America, Her, Prosperity

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

Home, Real, Liberty

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

Religion, Government, Past

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, Truth, Real

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Biography

Nationality: American

Type: President

Born: March 16, 1751

Died: June 28, 1836

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