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James Madison Quotes about Liberty

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Wherever there is interest and power to do wrong, wrong will generally be done.

Wherever there is interest and power to do wrong, wrong will generally be done.

Reality, Liberty, Done

James Madison, Ralph Ketcham “Selected Writings of James Madison”, Hackett Publishing

The people shall not be deprived or abridged of their right to speak, or to publish their sentiments; and the freedom of the press, as one of the great bulwarks of liberty, shall be inviolable.

People, President, Liberty

James Madison, Ralph Ketcham “Selected Writings of James Madison”, Hackett Publishing

Conscience is the most sacred of all property.

Religious, Liberty, Sacred

James Madison (1867). “1829-1836”, p.479

I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents.

Government, Liberty, Politics

"Time Magazine: We Don't Need No Stinking Constitution" by Larry Elder, www.realclearpolitics.com. July 7, 2011.

The civil rights of none, shall be abridged on account of religious belief or worship, nor shall any national religion be established, nor shall the full and equal rights of conscience be in any manner, or on any pretext infringed.

Religious, Rights, Liberty

James Madison, Ralph Ketcham “Selected Writings of James Madison”, Hackett Publishing

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.

Men, Political, Liberty

James Madison (1867). “1829-1836”, p.478

Resistance to tyranny is service to God.

Liberty, Libertarian, Resistance

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, People, Liberty

Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay (1852). “The Federalist, on the New Constitution: Written in 1788”, p.273

People will continue to seek justice until it is found, or until liberty is lost in the pursuit.

People, Justice, Liberty

A well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained in arms, is the best most natural defense of a free country.

Country, People, Liberty

Each generation should be made to bear the burden of its own wars, instead of carrying them on, at the expense of other generations.

War, Liberty, Bears

James Madison (1865). “Letters and other writings of James Madison”, p.471

A standing military force, with an overgrown Executive will not long be safe companions to liberty.

Military, Long, Liberty

James Madison (1787). “The Writings of James Madison: 1787. The journal of the Constitutional convention”, p.317

We are right to take alarm at the first experiment upon our liberties.

Liberty, Alarms, Tyranny Founding Fathers

What a perversion of the normal order of things! ... to make power the primary and central object of the social system, and Liberty but its satellite.

Order, Liberty, Normal

Temporary deviations from fundamental principles are always more or less dangerous. When the first pretext fails, those who become interested in prolonging the evil will rarely be at a loss for other pretexts.

Loss, Evil, Liberty

James Madison, Ralph Ketcham “Selected Writings of James Madison”, Hackett Publishing

With respect to the words "general welfare," I have always regarded them as qualified by the detail of powers connected with them. To take them in a literal and unlimited sense would be a metamorphosis of the Constitution into a character which there is a host of proofs was not contemplated by its creators.

Character, Government, Liberty

James Madison's letter to James Robertson, April 20, 1831.

The executive has no right, in any case, to decide the question, whether there is or is not cause for declaring war.

War, Liberty, Tyranny Founding Fathers

Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay (1852). “The Federalist, on the new constitution, written in 1788, with an appendix, containing the letters of Pacificus and Helvidius on the proclamation of neutrality of 1793, also the original articles of confederation and the constitution of the United States”, p.451

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.

Power, Men, Liberty

The Federalist no. 51 (1788)

A well-instructed people alone can be permanently a free people.

People, Liberty, Wells

James Madison (1819). “The Writings of James Madison: 1808-1819”, p.127

Liberty is to faction what air is to fire.

Fire, Air, Liberty

The Federalist no. 10 (1788)

As a man is said to have a right to his property, he may be equally said to have a property in his rights.

Men, Rights, Liberty

James Madison, Ralph Ketcham “Selected Writings of James Madison”, Hackett Publishing

Toleration is not the opposite of intolerance, but is the counterfeit of it. Both are despotisms. The one assumes to itself the right of withholding liberty of conscience, the other of granting it.

Opposites, Liberty, Assuming

"Rights of Man". Book by Thomas Paine, 1791.

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.

Parent, Liberty, Youth

"Public Education Isn't Socialism, and Neither Is Liz Warren" by Charles P. Pierce, www.esquire.com. November 9, 2011.

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.

Political, Liberty, Majority

James Madison, David B. Mattern (1997). “James Madison's "Advice to My Country"”, p.68, University of Virginia Press

The personal right to acquire property, which is a natural right, gives to property, when acquired, a right to protection, as a social right.

Giving, Liberty, Protection

James Madison, Ralph Ketcham “Selected Writings of James Madison”, Hackett Publishing

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Born: March 16, 1751 - June 28, 1836
Occupation: 4th U.S. President

Quotes: 548

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