James Madison was not only the fourth president of the United States but also the Father of the US Constitution. Here are some James Madison quotes to help your learn more about his ideas.

Learn more about James Madison

"A popular Government without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy; or, perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance...."

"A standing army is one of the greatest mischiefs that can possibly happen."

"All power in human hands is liable to be abused."

"Conscience is the most sacred of all property...."

"Every word decides a question between power and liberty." (Speaking about the Constitution)

"I go on the principle that a public debt is a public curse."

"If men were angels, no government would be necessary."

"America united with a handful of troops, or without a single soldier, exhibits a more forbidding posture to foreign ambition than America disunited, with a hundred thousand veterans ready for combat."

"Since the general civilization of mankind, I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations."

"Wherever the real power in a Government lies, there is the danger of oppression."