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That slow poison [slavery] is daily contaminating the minds and morals of our people. Every gentlemen here is born a petty tyrant, practiced in acts of despotism and cruelty.

George Mason

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George Mason
Age: 66 †
Born: 1725
Born: December 11
Died: 1792
Died: October 7
Lawyer
Politician
Slaveholder
Statesman
Fairfax
Virginia
George Mason IV
Mind
Slow
Practiced
People
Slavery
Morals
Daily
Petty
Minds
Tyrants
Revolution
Poison
Contaminating
Moral
Gentleman
Tyrant
Born
Cruelty
Despotism
Every
Acts
Gentlemen

More quotes by George Mason

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The question then will be, whether a consolidated government can preserve the freedom and secure the rights of the people.
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Slavery discourages arts and manufactures.
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Slavery discourages arts and manufacturing ...[and] every master of slaves is born a petty tyrant.
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The Laws of Nature are the Laws of God, Whose authority can be superseded by no power on earth. A legislature must not obstruct our obedience to Him from whose punishment they cannot protect us. All human constitutions which contradict His laws, we are in conscience bound to disobey.
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Considering the natural lust for power so inherent in man, I fear the thirst of power will prevail to oppress the people.
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We are now to rank among the nations of the world but whether our Independence shall prove a blessing or a curse must depend upon our own wisdom or folly, virtue or wickedness.... Justice and virtue are the vital principles of republican government.
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I retired from public Business from a thorough Conviction that it was not in my Power to do any Good, and very much disgusted with Measures, which appeared to me inconsistent with common Policy and Justice.
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I ask you sir, who are the militia? They consist now of the whole people.
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The laws of nature are the laws of God, whose authority can be superseded by no power on earth.
George Mason
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All men are by nature born equally free and independent.
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No point is of more importance than that the right of impeachment should be continued. Shall any man be above Justice?
George Mason
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The [President's] Nomination, of Course, brings the Subject fully under the Consideration of the Senate who have then a Right to decide upon its Propriety or Impropriety.
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A well-regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained to arms, is the proper, natural, and safe defense of a free state that standing armies, in time of peace, should be avoided as dangerous to liberty and that in all cases the military should be under strict subordination to, and governed by, the civil power.
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Happiness and Prosperity are now within our Reach but to attain and preserve them must depend upon our own Wisdom and Virtue.
George Mason
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To disarm the people... was the best and most effectual way to enslave them.
George Mason
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A few years' experience will convince us that those things which at the time they happened we regarded as our greatest misfortunes have proved our greatest blessings.
George Mason
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Don't wait around for your life to happen to you. Find something that makes you happy, and do it. Because everything else is all just background noise.
George Mason
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We owe to our Mother-Country the Duty of Subjects but will not pay her the Submission of Slaves.
George Mason
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Who are the militia? They consist now of the whole people, except a few public officers. But I cannot say who will be the militia of the future day. If that paper on the table [the Constitution] gets no alteration, the militia of the future day may not consist of all classes, high and low, and rich and poor.
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I charge [my sons] never to let the motives of private interest or ambition to influence them to betray, nor the terrors of poverty and disgrace, or the fear of danger or of death deter them from asserting the liberty of their country, and endeavoring to transmit to their posterity those sacred rights to which themselves were born
George Mason