Is there no virtue among us? If there be not, we are in a wretched situation. No theoretical checks-no form of government can render us secure. To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical idea, if there be sufficient virtue and intelligence in the community, it will be exercised in the selection of these men. So that we do not depend on their virtue, or put confidence in our rulers, but in the people who are to choose them. ✨ James Madison, David B. Mattern (1997). James Madison's Advice to My Country, p.24, University of Virginia Press
More Author Quotes
- [Property] embraces everything to which a man may attach a value and have a right. ✨ James Madison (1867). 1829-1836, p.478
- It is too early for politicians to presume on our forgetting that the public good, the real welfare of the great body of the people, is the supreme object to be pursued; and that no form of governmen … ▶
- The governments of Europe are afraid to trust the people with arms. If they did, the people would certainly shake off the yoke of tyranny, as America did.
- 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. The protection of these faculties is the first ob … ▶
- A victorious and powerful ally is but another name for a master. ✨ Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay (1852). The Federalist: On the New Constitution, Written in 1788, p.83
Most Cited Authors
William Shakespeare2362
Cassandra Clare2086
Ralph Waldo Emerson2017
Paulo Coelho1839
Rajneesh1644
Sherrilyn Kenyon1633
Mark Twain1626
C. S. Lewis1624
Rick Riordan1549
Oscar Wilde1401
Albert Einstein1372
J. K. Rowling1274
Rumi1268
Friedrich Nietzsche1258
John Green1254
Swami Vivekananda1206
Thomas Jefferson1179
Richelle Mead1130
Barack Obama1115
Henry David Thoreau1086
Terry Pratchett1070
Stephen King1024
Mahatma Gandhi1019
Jodi Picoult1016
Neil Gaiman977
Haruki Murakami976
Laozi972
27
The Best Quotes
Donatella Versace 
Linford Christie 
Jack Kevorkian 
Walid Jumblatt 
Jeanette Winterson 
George W. Bush 
Napoleon Hill 
Julie James 
Muhammad Ali Jinnah 
Thomas S. Power 
Flannery O'Connor 
Viggo Mortensen 
Claudia Rankine Most Liked Authors
- William Shakespeare46.4k
- Cassandra Clare40.9k
- Ralph Waldo Emerson38.9k
- Paulo Coelho35.9k
- Rajneesh32k
- Sherrilyn Kenyon31.8k
- Mark Twain31.7k
- C. S. Lewis31k
- Rick Riordan30.4k
- Oscar Wilde26.9k
- Albert Einstein26.8k
- J. K. Rowling24.6k
- John Green24.5k
- Friedrich Nietzsche24.4k
- Rumi24.3k
- Swami Vivekananda23.3k
- Thomas Jefferson22.7k
- Richelle Mead22.2k
- Barack Obama21.6k
- Terry Pratchett21k
- Henry David Thoreau20.6k
- Stephen King19.8k
- Jodi Picoult19.8k
- Mahatma Gandhi19.7k
- Neil Gaiman19.2k
- Laozi19.1k
- Haruki Murakami19k
27