The quotations of

James Madison

President of the United States from 1809 to 1817

1751–1836

31 quotes, most often on Government, Politics and War & Peace. Part of the U.S. Presidents and Founding Fathers collections.

In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men the great difficulty lies in this: You must first enable the government to control the governed, and in the next place, oblige it to control itself.
Federalist No. 51 (1788)In contextOften credited to Alexander Hamilton
- Government
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. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm themselves with the power knowledge gives.
Letter to W.T. Barry (4 August 1822), in The Writings of James Madison (1910) edited by Gaillard Hunt, Vol. 9, p. 103
- Government
- Knowledge
Justice is the end of Government. It is the end of civil society. It ever has been, and ever will be pursued, until it be obtained, or until liberty be lost in the pursuit.
Federalist No. 51 (6 February 1788)In context
- Government
- Justice
The essence of Government is power; and power, lodged as it must be in human hands, will ever be liable to abuse.
Speech in the Virginia Constitutional Convention, 2 December 1829, The Writings of James Madison: 1819-1836 (1910), ed. Galliard Hunt, p. 361
- Government
- Power
Ambition must be made to counteract ambition.
Federalist No. 51 (6 February 1788)In context
- Government
No government, any more than an individual, will long be respected without being truly respectable; nor be truly respectable without possessing a certain portion of order and stability.
Federalist No. 62
- Government
If men were angels, no government would be necessary.
Federalist No. 51 (6 February 1788)In context
- Government
The Constitution requires an adoption in toto, and for ever.
Letter to Alexander Hamilton (1788)
- America
- Government
The constitution supposes, what the History of all Governments demonstrates, that the Executive is the branch of power most interested in war, & most prone to it.
Letter to Thomas Jefferson (2 April 1798); published in The Writings of James Madison (1906) edited by Gaillard Hunt, Vol. 6, pp. 312-14
Wherever the real power in a Government lies, there is the danger of oppression.
Letter to Thomas Jefferson (17 October 1788), in The Writings of James Madison, Vol. 5 (1904)
- Government
- Power
But what is Government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature?
Federalist No. 51 (6 February 1788)In context
- Government
Religion & Govt. will both exist in greater purity, the less they are mixed together.
Letter to Edward Livingston (10 July 1822)
- Government
- Religion
The legislative department is everywhere extending the sphere of its activity and drawing all power into its impetuous vortex.
Federalist No. 48 (1 February 1788)
- Government
- Power
It is of great importance in a republic not only to guard the society against the oppression of its rulers, but to guard one part of the society against the injustice of the other part.
Federalist No. 51 (February 6, 1788)In context
- Government
- Justice

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