55 Federalist Papers Quotes
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Federalist Quotes
Tyranny is defined as that which is legal for the government but illegal for the citizenry. — Unknown Author
The best we can hope for concerning the people at large is that they be properly armed. — Alexander Hamilton
Enlightened statesmen will not always be at the helm. — James Madison
If Congress can do whatever in their discretion can be done by money, and will promote the General Welfare, the Government is no longer a limited one, possessing enumerated powers, but an indefinite one. — James Madison
The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite. — James Madison
But the mild voice of reason, pleading the cause of an enlarged and permanent interest, is but too often drowned, before public bodies as well as individuals, by the clamors of an impatient avidity for immediate and immoderate gain. — James Madison
Of those men who have overturned the liberties of republics, the greatest number have begun their career by paying an obsequious court to the people, commencing demagogues and ending tyrants. — Alexander Hamilton
A watchful eye must be kept on ourselves lest while we are building ideal monuments of Renown and Bliss here we neglect to have our names enrolled in the Annals of Heaven. — James Madison
A standing military force, with an overgrown Executive will not long be safe companions to liberty. — James Madison
Democracies have been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their death. — James Madison
More Federalist Papers Quotes
The best we can hope for concerning the people at large is that they be properly armed. — Alexander Hamilton
Enlightened statesmen will not always be at the helm. — James Madison
If Congress can do whatever in their discretion can be done by money, and will promote the General Welfare, the Government is no longer a limited one, possessing enumerated powers, but an indefinite one. — James Madison
The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite. — James Madison
Can the real Constitution be restored? Probably not. Too many Americans depend on government money under programs the Constitution doesn't authorize, and money talks with an eloquence Shakespeare could only envy. Ignorant people don't understand The Federalist Papers, but they understand government checks with their names on them. — Joseph Sobran
But the mild voice of reason, pleading the cause of an enlarged and permanent interest, is but too often drowned, before public bodies as well as individuals, by the clamors of an impatient avidity for immediate and immoderate gain. — James Madison
Of those men who have overturned the liberties of republics, the greatest number have begun their career by paying an obsequious court to the people, commencing demagogues and ending tyrants. — Alexander Hamilton
A watchful eye must be kept on ourselves lest while we are building ideal monuments of Renown and Bliss here we neglect to have our names enrolled in the Annals of Heaven. — James Madison
A standing military force, with an overgrown Executive will not long be safe companions to liberty. — James Madison
Democracies have been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their death. — James Madison
Among the numerous advantages promised by a well-constructed Union, none deserves to be more accurately developed than its tendency to break and control the violence of faction. — James Madison
In a free government, the security for civil rights must be the same as that for religious rights. It consists in the one case in the multiplicity of interests, and in the other in the multiplicity of sects. — Alexander Hamilton
Experience is the oracle of truth; and where its responses are unequivocal, they ought to be conclusive and sacred. — Alexander Hamilton
[T]he great security against a gradual concentration of the several powers in the same department consists in giving to those who administer each department the necessary constitutional means and personal motives to resist encroachment of the others. — James Madison
A feeble executive implies a feeble execution of the government. A feeble execution is but another phrase for a bad execution; and a government ill executed, whatever may be its theory, must be, in practice, a bad government. — Alexander Hamilton
[T]here is not a syllable in the plan under consideration which directly empowers the national courts to construe the laws according to the spirit of the Constitution. — Alexander Hamilton
Conscience is the most sacred of all property. — James Madison
What is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? — James Madison
The legislative department is everywhere extending the sphere of its activity and drawing all power into its impetuous vortex. — James Madison
Conscience is the most sacred of all property; other property depending in part on positive law, the exercise of that, being a natural and unalienable right. — James Madison
A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions. — James Madison
It is of great importance in a republic, not only to guard the society against the oppression of its rulers; but to guard one part of the society against the injustice of the other part. — James Madison
Liberty is to faction what air is to fire. — James Madison
The Founders understood that democracy was important, but if you didn't filter it through a republican system you'd be just as likely to end up with a tyranny of the majority as you would with a healthy society. Don't worry, I won't quote the Federalist Papers, but trust me, it's in there. — Jonah Goldberg
It is the duty of every man to render to the Creator such homage...Before any man can be considered as a member of Civil Society, he must be considered as a subject of the Governor of the Universe. — James Madison
Who does not see that . . . the same authority which can force a citizen to contribute three pence only of his property for the support of any one establishment, may force him to conform to any other establishment in all cases whatsoever? — James Madison
Wherever the real power in a Government lies, there is the danger of oppression. — James Madison
Who does not see that the same authority which can establish Christianity, in exclusion of all other Religions, may establish with the same ease any particular sect of Christians, in exclusion of all other Sects? — James Madison
Armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few. — James Madison
The most common and durable source of faction has been the various and unequal distribution of property. — James Madison
The best critical consideration of the inherent weakness of a federation of states in which the law of the federation has to be enforced on the states who are its members is contained in the Federalist Papers. — Kenneth Waltz
The religion then of every man must be left to the conviction and conscience of every man; and it is the right of every man to exercise it as these may dictate. — James Madison
Besides the advantage of being armed, which the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation.... Notwithstanding the military establishments in the several kingdoms of Europe, which are carried as far as the public resources will bear, the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms. — James Madison
The invasion of private rights is chiefly to be apprehended, not from acts of Government contrary to the sense of its constituents, but from acts in which the Government is the mere instrument of the major number of the Constituents. — James Madison
[V]igor of government is essential to the security of liberty. — Alexander Hamilton
The vigour of government is essential to the security of liberty. . . . a dangerous ambition more often lurks behind the specious mask of zeal for the rights of the people, than under the forbidding appearance of zeal for the firmness and efficiency of government. — Alexander Hamilton
From the the protection of different and unequal faculties of acquiring property, the possession of different degrees and kinds of property immediately results. — James Madison
Law is defined to be a rule of action; but how can that be a rule, which is little known and less fixed? — Alexander Hamilton
A zeal for different opinions concerning religion...[has] divided mankind into parties, inflamed them with mutual animosity, and rendered them much more disposed to vex and oppress each other than to co-operate for their common good. — James Madison
The latent causes of faction are thus sown in the nature of man. — James Madison
Those who hold and those who are without property have ever formed distinct interests in society. — James Madison
This [a state militia system] appears to me the only substitute that can be devised for a standing army, and the best possible security against it, if it should exist. — Alexander Hamilton
A local spirit will infallibly prevail much more in the members of Congress than a national spirit will prevail in the legislatures of the particular States. — James Madison
The smaller the society, the fewer probably will be the distinct parties and interests composing it; the fewer the distinct parties and interests, the more frequently will a majority be found of the same party; . . . the more easily will they concert and execute their plans of oppression. — James Madison
The latent causes of faction are thus sown in the nature of man; and we see them everywhere brought into different degrees of activity, according to the different circumstances of civil society. — James Madison
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