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
In the first place, it is to be remembered, that the general government is not to be charged with the whole power of making and administering laws. Its jurisdiction is limited to certain enumerated objects, which concern all the members of the republic, but which are not to be attained by the separate provisions of any.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The government's power is limited and defined by specific responsibilities.
This quote emphasizes the principle that the government's authority is not all-encompassing; instead, it is restricted to particular tasks that are crucial for the collective wellbeing of the republic. Madison advocates for a clear demarcation of powers to prevent overreach and ensure that individual provisions do not conflict with the overarching governance framework.
Themes
GovernmentPowerLawsJurisdictionRepublic
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the limits of government intervention in personal lives.
More from James Madison
All quotes βNo 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.
James MadisonRead
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.
James MadisonRead
The advice nearest to my heart and deepest in my convictions is that the Union of the States be cherished and perpetuated.
James MadisonRead
Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.
James MadisonRead
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.
James MadisonRead
Similar quotes
I find rebellion packaged by a major corporation a little hard to take seriously.
David ByrneRead
My life's work has been to prompt others and be forgotten. Remember that night when Christian came to your balcony? That moment sums up my life. While I was below in the shadows, others climbed up to kiss the sweet rose.
Cyrano De BergeracRead
The deterioration of every government begins with the decay of the principles on which it was founded.
Baron De MontesquieuRead
One always pulls the trigger out of self-interest and quotes history to avoid responsibility or pangs of conscience.
Joseph BrodskyRead
I am an Epicurean. I consider the genuine (not the imputed) doctrines of Epicurus as containing everything rational in moral philosophy which Greece and Rome have left us.
Thomas JeffersonRead
...the very cannibalism of the counterrevolution will convince the nations that there is only one way in which the murderous death agonies of the old society and the bloody birth throes of the new society can be shortened, simplified and concentrated, and that way is revolutionary terror.
Karl MarxRead