The essence of Government is power; and power, lodged as it must be in human hands, will ever be liable to abuse.
JAMES MADISON
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.
More James Madison Quotes
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The essence of Government is power; and power, lodged as it must be in human hands, will ever be liable to abuse.
JAMES MADISON -
The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted.
JAMES MADISON -
Liberty may be endangered by the abuse of liberty, but also by the abuse of power.
JAMES MADISON -
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The number, the industry, and the morality of the priesthood, and the devotion of the people have been manifestly increased by the total separation of the church from the state.
JAMES MADISON -
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 -
As a man is said to have a right to his property, he may be equally said to have a property in his rights.
JAMES MADISON -
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 -
Each generation should be made to bear the burden of its own wars, instead of carrying them on, at the expense of other generations.
JAMES MADISON -
What is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature?
JAMES MADISON -
All that seems indispensible in stating the account between the dead and the living, is to see that the debts against the latter do not exceed the advances made by the former.
JAMES MADISON -
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 -
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 -
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 -
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 -
The personal right to acquire property, which is a natural right, gives to property, when acquired, a right to protection, as a social right.
JAMES MADISON