James Madison Famous Quotes

As James Madison famously observed, in circumstances of liberty, individuals and groups are bound to diverge in both their interests and their beliefs. The alternative to accepting social pluralism is using power, public or private, to suppress it. This means, in turn, that politics must seek to balance competing interests and conceptions of good lives, a process that often requires compromise.

As President James Madison observed famously, “If men were angels, no government would be necessary.” In simple terms, it is the role of religion—not the state—to make men more like angels. It is the role of the state to deal with the external acts of those who behave more like devils.