I go on the principle that a public debt is a public curse and in a republican government more than in any other.
James MadisonRead
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.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Separating religion from government leads to a purer form of both.
James Madison asserts that the separation of religion and government fosters a more genuine practice of both. He believes that when these two institutions are kept distinct, they are less likely to corrupt each other, allowing each to flourish in its own right and serve the public without bias or interference.
Themes
SeparationReligionGovernmentPurityFreedomPhilosophy
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the importance of secularism in education.
More from James Madison
All quotes →No man is allowed to be a judge in his own cause; because his interest would certainly bias his judgment, and, not improbably, corrupt his integrity. With equal, nay with greater reason, a body of men are unfit to be both judges and parties at the same time.
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I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power, than by violent and sudden usurpations; but, on a candid examination of history, we shall find that turbulence, violence, and abuse of power, by the majority trampling on the rights of the minority, have produced factions and commotions, which, in republics, have, more frequently than any other cause, produced despotism.
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The advice nearest to my heart and deepest in my convictions is that the Union of the States be cherished and perpetuated.
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Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.
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The magnitude of this evil among us is so deeply felt, and so universally acknowledged, that no merit could be greater than that of devising a satisfactory remedy for it.
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