A pure democracy is a society consisting of a small number of citizens, who assemble and administer the government in person. – James Madison
What spectacle can be more edifying or more seasonable, than that of Liberty and Learning, each leaning on the other for their mutual and surest support? – James Madison
There is no maxim, in my opinion, which is more liable to be misapplied, and which, therefore, more needs elucidation, than the current one, that the interest of the majority is the political standard of right and wrong. – 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
In Republics, the great danger is, that the majority may not sufficiently respect the rights of the minority. – James Madison
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
I entirely concur in the propriety of resorting to the sense in which the Constitution was accepted and ratified by the nation. In that sense alone it is the legitimate Constitution. – James Madison
The happy Union of these States is a wonder; their Constitution a miracle; their example the hope of Liberty throughout the world. – James Madison
The means of defense against foreign danger historically have become the instruments of tyranny at home. – James Madison
By rendering the labor of one, the property of the other, they cherish pride, luxury, and vanity on one side; on the other, vice and servility, or hatred and revolt. – James Madison
The rights of persons, and the rights of property, are the objects, for the protection of which Government was instituted. – James Madison
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
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
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
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
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 long as the reason of man continues fallible, and he is at liberty to exercise it, different opinions will be formed. – James Madison
If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. – James Madison
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. – 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. – James Madison
The loss of liberty at home is to be charged to the provisions against danger, real or imagined, 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
