Top 73 Quotes by James Madison

War contains so much folly, as well as wickedness, that much is to be hoped from the progress of reason.

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

And I have no doubt that every new example will succeed, as every past one has done, in showing that religion and Government will both exist in greater purity, the less they are mixed together.

A pure democracy is a society consisting of a small number of citizens, who assemble and administer the government in person.

A sincere and steadfast co-operation in promoting such a reconstruction of our political system as would provide for the permanent liberty and happiness of the United States.

War should only be declared by the authority of the people, whose toils and treasures are to support its burdens, instead of the government which is to reap its fruits.

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

I should not regret a fair and full trial of the entire abolition of capital punishment.

To the press alone, chequered as it is with abuses, the world is indebted for all the triumphs which have been gained by reason and humanity over error and oppression.

Every nation whose affairs betray a want of wisdom and stability may calculate on every loss which can be sustained from the more systematic policy of its wiser neighbors.