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The gentleman puts me in mind of an old hen which persists in setting after her eggs are taken away.

— Fisher Ames Memoirs of Theophilus Parsons (1859)

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More quotes by Fisher Ames

I consider biennial elections as a security that the sober, second thought of the people shall be law.

Liberty has never yet lasted long in a democracy; nor has it ever ended in any thing better than despotism.

American Literature (1805)

The known propensity of a democracy is to licentiousness, which the ambitious call, and the ignorant believe to be, liberty.

The Dangers of American Liberty (1805)

The rights of conscience, of bearing arms, of changing the government, are declared to be inherent in the people. Freedom of the press, too.

[The framers of the Constitution] “intended our government should be a republic, which differs more widely from a democracy than a democracy from a despotism.”

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Fisher Ames (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.