Quote

There is a degree of depravity in mankind which requires a certain degree of circumspection and distrust.

James Madison

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

James Madison
Age: 85 †
Born: 1751
Born: March 16
Died: 1836
Died: June 28
4Th U.S. President
Diplomat
Lawyer
Philosopher
Politician
Slaveholder
Statesperson
Writer
Port Conway
Virginia
James Madison
Jr.
President Madison
J. Madison
Madison
Degree
Requires
Degrees
Mankind
Certain
Circumspection
Depravity
Distrust
Voting

More quotes by James Madison

Image
People will continue to seek justice until it is found, or until liberty is lost in the pursuit.
James Madison
Image
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.
James Madison
Image
By a faction, I understand a number of citizens, whether amounting to a majority or a minority of the whole, who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest... The latent causes of faction are sown in the nature of man.
James Madison
Image
Commercial shackles are generally unjust, oppressive, and impolitic.
James Madison
Image
The invasion of private rights is chiefly to be apprehended, not from acts of Government contrary to the sense of its constituents, but from acts in which the Government is the mere instrument of the major number of the Constituents.
James Madison
Image
The regulation of commerce, it is true, is a new power but that seems to be an addition which few oppose and from which no apprehensions are entertained.
James Madison
Image
It will be remembered, that a frequent recurrence to fundamental principles is solemnly enjoined by most of the state constitutions, and particularly by our own, as a necessary safeguard against the danger of degeneracy, to which republics are liable, as well as other governments, though in a less degree than others.
James Madison
Image
Learned Institutions ought to be favorite objects with every free people. They throw that light over the public mind which is the best security against crafty and dangerous encroachments on the public liberty.
James Madison
Image
Reason, on the contrary, assures us, that as in so great a number, a fit representative would be most likely to be found, so the choice would be less likely to be diverted from him, by the intrigues of the ambitious, or the bribes of the rich.
James Madison
Image
As to the permanent interest of individuals in the aggregated interests of the community, and in the proverbial maxim, that honesty is the best policy, present temptation is often found to be an overmatch for those considerations.
James Madison
Image
If men were angels, there would be no need of government.
James Madison
Image
I hope this will find you...enjoying the commencement of a new year with every prospect that can make it a happy one.
James Madison
Image
In Europe, charters of liberty have been granted by Power. In America ... charters of power [are] granted by liberty.
James Madison
Image
The executive has no right, in any case, to decide the question, whether there is or is not cause for declaring war.
James Madison
Image
Union of religious sentiments begets a surprising confidence.
James Madison
Image
We have the self-evident right to regulate our trade according to our own will and our own interest . . . . This right can be denied to no independent nation.
James Madison
Image
Liberty may be endangered by the abuse of liberty, but also by the abuse of power.
James Madison
Image
The real difference of interests, lay not between large and small, but between the Northern and Southern states. The institution of slavery and its consequences formed a line of discrimination.
James Madison
Image
A well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained in arms, is the best most natural defense of a free country.
James Madison
Image
[A] mere demarcation on parchment of the constitutional limits of the several departments is not a sufficient guard against those encroachments which lead to a tyrannical concentration of all the powers of government in the same hands.
James Madison