James Madison Quotes

A portion of the multitude must ever be coerced.

Governments need to have both shepherds and butchers.

A right not accompanied by the sword is a lost right.

Those who can, must obey.

In no form of government is there an absolute identity of interest between the people and their rulers

Where there is no common power, there is no law

So what is government?... Very simply, it is an agency of coercion. Of course, there are other agencies of coercion - such as the Mafia. So to be more precise, government is the agency of coercion that has flags in front of its offices.

Government is an apparatus of compulsion and coercion.

The single definition of government I've ever seen that makes sense is that it's the organization which claims the right to kill people who won't do what it wants.

The essential feature of government is the enforcement of its decrees by beating, killing, and imprisoning.

I'll remind you all, however, that for government, existence is a privilege, not a right.

Power should be reserved for weightlifting and boats, and leadership really involves responsibility.

I don't know how many people have ever seen the National Guard break in somewhere, but they mean business.

When mankind first saw the necessity of government, it is probable that many had conceived the desire of ruling.

A law is not a law without coercion behind it.

Let the people think they govern and they will be governed.

I was the law and order.

This great oracle of the East India Company himself admits that, if there is no power vested in the Court of Directors but that of the patronage, there is really no government vested in them at all.

All governments, without exception, are stable only insofar as they can effectively reward and punish.

That power which had both the purse and the sword, had the government of the whole country, and might extend its powers to any and to every object.

I lack the strength needed to sustain the scepter. I abhorred it, but in the end I agreed to accept it in order to prevent evils to the country which was about to succumb anew, if not to the former slavery, at least to the horrors of anarchy.

A political society cannot endure without a supreme will somewhere.

Governments rather depend upon men, than men upon governments.

The organization of order is not the exclusive monopoly of the State

Even when the State does good things, it finally rests on a club, a gun, or a prison, for its power to carry them through.