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James Madison Quotes
These James Madison Quotes are taken from his own personal correspondence
between the years 1822 and 1829. They are written to such prominent figures as
Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe and
John Quincy Adams. These James Madison
Quotes cover such topics as the importance of having a knowledgeable
populace, his reminiscences of Thomas Jefferson after his death and his strong
support of all types of educational institutions. James Madison
is known as the Father of the US Constitution and he became
the 4th President of the United States. Our James Madison Quotes
are listed chronologically and there are links to more both before and after this
period at the bottom.
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James Madison |
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James Madison Quotes
"We are teaching the world the great truth that Governments do better
without Kings & Nobles than with them. The merit will be doubled
by the other lesson that Religion Flourishes in greater purity, without
than with the aid of Government." - Letter to Edward Livingston, July
10, 1822
"A popular Government without popular information, or the means of
acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy, or perhaps
both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance: And a people who mean
to be their own Governors, must arm themselves with the power which
knowledge gives." - Letter to W. T. Barry, August 4, 1822
"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." - Letter to W. T. Barry, August 4, 1822
"A knowledge of the Globe and its various inhabitants, however slight...
has a kindred effect with that of seeing them as travellers, which never
fails, in uncorrupted minds, to weaken local prejudices, and enlarge the
sphere of benevolent feelings." - Letter to W. T. Barry, August 4,
1822
"What spectacle can be more edifying or more seasonable, than that of
Liberty and Learning, each leaning on the other for their mutual &
surest support?" - Letter to W. T. Barry, August 4, 1822
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 Montpelier -
Home of
James Madison
"I entirely concur in the propriety of resorting to the sense in which
the Constitution was accepted and ratified by the nation. In that sense
alone it is the legitimate Constitution. And if that be not the guide
in expounding it, there can be no security for a consistent and stable,
more than for a faithful, exercise of its powers. If the meaning of the
test be sought in the changeable meaning of the words composing it, It
is evident that the shape and attributes of the government must partake
of the changes to which the words and phrases of all living languages
are constantly subject. What a metamorphsis would be produced in the
code of law if all its ancient phraseology were to be taken in its modern
sense!" - Letter to Richard Henry Lee, June 25, 1824
"The eyes of the world being thus on our Country, it is put the more on
its good behavior, and under the greater obligation also, to do justice
to the Tree of Liberty by an exhibition of the fine fruits we gather from
it." - Letter to James Monroe, December 16, 1824
"In our complex system of polity, the public will, as a source of authority,
may be the will of the people as composing one nation, or the will of the
States in their distinct and independent capacities; or the federal will
as viewed, for example, through the presidential electors, representing in
a certain proportion both the nation and the States." - Letter to Henry
Lee, January 14, 1825
"The "Federalist" may fairly enough be regarded as the most authentic
exposition of the text of the federal Constitution as understood by the
Body (the Constitutional Convention) which prepared & and the Authorities
(the state ratifying conventions) which accepted it." - Letter to
Thomas Jefferson, February 8, 1825
"On the distinctive principles of the Government... of the U. States, the
best guides are to be found in... The
Declaration of Independence, as the fundamental Act of Union of these
States." - Letter to Thomas Jefferson, February 8, 1825
Read on for more great
James Madison Quotes
"I still must think... that the text of the Constitution is best
interpreted by reference to the tripartite theory of government to which
practice has been conformed and which so long and uniform a practice would
seem to have established." - Letter to Charles Francis Adams, October
13, 1825
"The belief in a God All Powerful wise and good, is so essential to the moral
order of the world and to the happiness of man, that arguments which enforce
it cannot be drawn from too many sources nor adapted with too much solicitude
to the different characters and capacities to be impressed with it." - Letter
to Rev. Frederick Beasley, November 20, 1825
"I congratulate you on the foundation thus laid for a general System of
Education, and hope it presages a superstructure, worthy of the patriotic
forecast which has commenced the Work. The best service that can be rendered
to a Country, next to that of giving it liberty, is in diffusing the mental
improvement equally essential to the preservation, and the enjoyment of the
blessing." - Letter to Littleton Dennis Teackle, March 29, 1826
"The best service that can be rendered to a Country, next to that of giving it
liberty, is in diffusing the mental improvement equally essential to the
preservation, and the enjoyment of the blessing." - Letter to Littleton
Dennis Teackle, March 29, 1826
"He will live in the memory and gratitude of the wise & good, as a luminary
of Science, as a votary of liberty, as a model of patriotism, and as a benefactor
of human kind." - Referring to Thomas Jefferson in a letter to Nicholas P.
Trist, July 6, 1826
"He was certainly one of the most learned men of the age. It may be said of
him as has been said of others that he was a "walking Library," and what can
be said of but few such prodigies, that the Genius of Philosophy ever walked
hand in hand with him." - Letter to Samuel Harrison Smith (referring to
Thomas Jefferson), November 4, 1826
Read on for more
James Madison Quotes
"A construction of the Constitution practised upon or acknowledged for a period
of nearly forty years, has received a national sanction not to be reversed but
by an evidence at least equivalent to the national will. If every new Congress
were to disregard a meaning of the instrument uniformly sustained by their
predecessors for such a period, there would be less stability in that fundamental
law than is required for the public good in the ordinary expositions of the
law. And the case of the Chancellor's foot, as a substitute for an established
measure, would illustrate the greater as well as the lesser evil of uncertainty
and mutability." - Letter to Joseph C. Cabell, March 18, 1827
"No feature in the aspect of our Country is more gratifying, than the increase
and variety of Institutions for educating the several ages and classes of the
rising generation, and the meritorious patriotism which improving on their most
improved forms extends the benefit of them to the sex heretofore, sharing too
little of it. Considered as at once the fruits of our free System of Government,
and the true means of sustaining and recommending it, such establishments are
entitled to the best praise that can be offered." - Letter to Gulian C.
Verplanck, February 14, 1828
"Power, wherever lodged, is liable, more or less, to abuse. In governments
organized on Republican principles it is necessarily lodged in the majority..."
- Letter to Thomas Lehre, never mailed, August 2, 1828
"The inconsistency is monstrous between the professed veneration for his (Thomas
Jefferson's) name and the anxiety to make him avow opinions in the most pointed
opposition to those maintained by him in his more deliberate correspondence with
others, and acted on through his whole official life." - Letter to W. C.
Rives, January 2, 1829
"Men cannot be justly bound by laws, in making which they have no share."
- Letter to Joseph C. Cabell, January 5, 1829
"My lengthened observation making me more and more sensible of the essential
connexion between a diffusion of knowledge and the success of Republican
institutions, I derive pleasure from every example of such associations as
that of the "Washington College Parthenon." With my best wishes that its
usefulness may equal the laudable views which led to it, I tender my
acknowledgements for the honorary membership conferred on me. At my advanced
period of life these wishes and acknowledgments are the only proofs I have to
give of the value I put on the mark of respect shown me; and the sincerity of
them the only value that can entitle them to a favorable acceptance by the
Society." - Letter to Samuel S. Lewis, February 16, 1829
"That the leading agency of such a man (Alexander Hamilton), and from a State in the
position of New York, should, in a project for severing the Union, be anxiously
wished for by its authors, is not to be doubted; and an experimental invitation
of him to attend a select meeting may, without difficulty, be supposed. But
obvious considerations oppose a belief that such an invitation would be accepted;
and, if accepted, the supposition would remain, that his intention might be to
dissuade his party and personal friends from a conspiracy as rash, as wicked, and
as ruinous to the party itself as to the country." - Letter to John Quincy Adams,
February 24, 1829
 If you enjoyed reading our James Madison Quotes,
you will also learn a lot more about James Madison at our
James Madison Facts page.
You can visit Montpelier, James Madison's home today. It has lots of memorabilia
and things to do. Visit the
Montpelier website here.
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