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
What is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature?
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote suggests that government is a mirror of human behavior and characteristics.
James Madison argues that government is not just an institution but a reflection of the fundamental traits of humanity. It embodies our virtues, flaws, and societal dynamics, indicating how our collective nature shapes the structures we create for governance.
Themes
GovernmentHuman NatureSocietyReflectionPhilosophy
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a political science class discussion about the nature of government.
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
Each of us literally chooses, by his way of attending to things, what sort of universe he shall appear to himself to inhabit.
William JamesRead
The masses have never thirsted after truth. Whoever can supply them with illusions is easily their master; whoever attempts to destroy their illusions is always their victim.
Gustave Le BonRead
The history of man is a graveyard of great cultures that came to catastrophic ends because of their incapacity for planned, rational, voluntary reaction to challenge.
Erich FrommRead
There are those who ask what authority, what theological qualification, the Council intended to give to its teachings, knowing that it avoided issuing solemn dogmatic definitions backed by the Church's infallible teaching authority. The answer is known by those who remember the conciliar declaration of March 6, 1964, repeated on November 16, 1964. In view of the pastoral nature of the Council, it avoided proclaiming in an extraordinary manner any dogmata carrying the mark of infallibility.
Pope Paul ViRead
Magic causes as much trouble as it cures.
J. K. RowlingRead
Maybe the more emotions a person experiences in their daily lives, the longer time seems to feel to them. As you get older, you experience fewer new things, and so time seems to go by faster.
Douglas CouplandRead