Epigrams

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Peace and War

Of all the enemies to public liberty war, is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded…
Political Observations, April 20, 1795, (Madison, IV, page 491)

Perhaps it is a universal truth that the loss of liberty at home is to be charged against provisions against danger, real or pretended from abroad.
Letter to Thomas Jefferson, May 13, 1798, (Madison, II, page 141)

It is a principle incorporated into the settled policy of America, that as peace is better than war, war is better than tribute.
Letter to the Dey of Algiers, August, 1816 (Madison, III, page 17)

The war [of 1812] has proved…that our free Government, like other free Governments, though slow in its early movements, acquires, in its progress, a force proportioned to its freedom…
State of the Union, 1813

Opinion

Nothing is so contagious as opinion, especially on questions which, being susceptible of very different glosses, beget in the mind a distrust of itself.
Letter to Dr. Rush, March 7, 1790 (Madison, 1865, I, page 161)

Consistency

I am far from regarding a change of opinions, under the lights of experience and the results of improved reflection, as exposed to censure…
Letter to C. E. Haynes, Feb. 25, 1831 (Madison, 1865, IV, page 164)

Private v. Public

Undertakings by private companies carry with them a presumptive evidence of utility, and the private stakes in them some security of execution, the want of which is the bane of public undertakings. Still, the importunities of private companies cannot be listened to with more caution than prudence requires.
Letter to Martin Van Buren, July 5, 1830 (Madison, 1865, IV, page 92)

Theory and Practice

[T]heories are the offspring of the closet; exceptions and qualifications are the lessons of experience.
Letter to Charles J. Ingersoll, December 30, 1835 (Madison, 1865, IV, page 388)

A Silly Reason

A silly reason from a wise man is never the true one.
Letter to Richard Rush, June 27, 1817 (Madison, 1865, III, page 44)