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Conscience is the most sacred of all property; other property depending in part on positive law, the exercise of that being a natural and unalienable right. To guard a man's house as his castle, to pay public and enforce private debts with the most exact faith, can give no title to invade a man's conscience, which is more sacred than his castle, or to withhold from it that debt of protection for which the public faith is pledged by the very nature and original conditions of the social pact.

— James Madison

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More quotes by James Madison

But what is Government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature?

Federalist Papers (1787)

The legislative department is everywhere extending the sphere of its activity and drawing all power into its impetuous vortex.

Federalist Papers (1787)

Slavery is, as you justly complain, a sad blot on our free country.

Letter to Lafayette (1821)

Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other.

The Constitution requires an adoption in toto, and for ever.

Letter to Alexander Hamilton (1788)

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