James Madison

"The firmest foundations of stability rest on the virtue of the people."

"The advancement and diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty."

"A popular government without popular information is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy."

"If men were angels, no government would be necessary."

"The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the republican model of government are justly considered as finally staked on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people."

"Enlightened statesmen will not always be at the helm."

"The great security against a gradual concentration of the several powers in the same department consists in giving to those who administer each department the necessary constitutional means and personal motives to resist encroachments."

"Armies are kept in idleness in times of peace."

"The circulation of confidence is better than the circulation of money."

"What is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature?"

"The true distinction between man and beast is that man alone is capable of self-government."

"Justice is the end of government."

"Conscience is the most sacred of all property."

"There is not a shadow of right in the general government to intermeddle with religion."

"The public good is in nothing more essentially interested than in the preservation of religious freedom."

"I have observed that the Declaration of Independence always creates enthusiasm and inspires respect."

"The right to private judgment is in all cases reserved."

"It is impossible for any nation to reason itself out of a problem it has reasoned itself into."

"The equal rights of man and the happiness of every individual are now acknowledged to be the only legitimate objects of government."

"Wherever there is an interest and power to do wrong, wrong will generally be done."

"The better to protect liberty, the stronger the chains of responsibility must be."

"Knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives."

"In no institution of any kind does the principle of authority stand on a firmer foundation than in the military."

"Union of religious sentiments with respect to civil rights will produce a wholesome influence."

"The future and success of America is not in the hands of the government. It will always be in the hands of the people."

"We are teaching the world the great truth that governments do better without kings."

"The extent of federal authority should not be stretched beyond its prescribed limits."

"A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

"There is no maxim in my opinion which is more established in the law of nations than this, that for the safety of the whole, a part may be sacrificed."

"The diversity in the faculties of men, from which the rights of property originate, is not less an insuperable obstacle to a uniformity of interests."