If men were angels, no government would be necessary.
Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.
If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.
Liberty may be endangered by the abuse of liberty, but also by the abuse of power.
Philosophy is common sense with big words.
The advancement and diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty.
In Republics, the great danger is, that the majority may not sufficiently respect the rights of the minority.
The happy Union of these States is a wonder; their Constitution a miracle; their example the hope of Liberty throughout the world.
As long as the reason of man continues fallible, and he is at liberty to exercise it, different opinions will be formed.
The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted.
I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments by those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.
The essence of Government is power; and power, lodged as it must be in human hands, will ever be liable to abuse.
It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood.
The people are the only legitimate fountain of power, and it is from them that the constitutional charter, under which the several branches of government hold their power, is derived.
The diversity in the faculties of men, from which the rights of property originate, is not less an insuperable obstacle to an uniformity of interests. The protection of these faculties is the first object of government.
A well-instructed people alone can be permanently a free people.
In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.
America was indebted to immigration for her settlement and prosperity. That part of America which had encouraged them most had advanced most rapidly in population, agriculture and the arts.
It is a universal truth that the loss of liberty at home is to be charged to the provisions against danger, real or pretended, from abroad.
A well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained in arms, is the best most natural defense of a free country.
