612 Quotes by James Madison

Democracy was the right of the people to choose their own tyrant.

The primary function of government is to protect the minority of the opulent from the majority of the poor.

The establishment of the chaplainship to Congress is a palpable violation of ... constitutional principles.

To what expedient then shall we finally resort, for maintaining in practice the necessary partition of power among the several departments, as laid down in the constitution? The only answer that can be given is, that as all these exterior provisions are found to be inadequate, the defect must be supplied, by so contriving the interior structure of the government, as that its several constituent parts may, by their mutual relations, be the means of keeping each other in their proper places.

Of all the enemies to public liberty, war is perhaps the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few ... No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.

It degrades from the equal rank of Citizens all those whose opinions in Religion do not bend to those of the Legislative authority. Distant as it may be in its present form from the Inquisition, it differs from it only in degree.

I hope this will find you...enjoying the commencement of a new year with every prospect that can make it a happy one.

Procrastination in the beginning and precipitation towards the conclusion is the characteristic of such bodies.

[I]t is more convenient to prevent the passage of a law, than to declare it void after it has passed.