The Federalist Papers

"I affect not reserves, which I do not feel."

"Nothing is more certain then the indispensable necessity of government; and it is equally undeniable, that whenever and however it is instituted, the people must cede to it some of their natural rights, in order to vest it with requisite powers."

"The pride of states as well as men, naturally disposes them to justify all their actions, and opposes their acknowledging, correcting or repairing their errors and offences."

"But the safety of the people of America against dangers from foreign force, depends not only on their forbearing to give just causes of war to other nations, but also on their placing and continuing themselves in such a situation as not to invite hostility or insult; for it need not be observed, that there are pretended as well as just causes of war."

"We may profit by their experience, without paying the price which it cost them."

"Has commerce hitherto done anything more than change the objects of war? Is not the love of wealth as domineering and enterprising a passion as that of power or glory?"

"There is, perhaps, nothing more likely to disturb the tranquillity of nations, than there being bound to natural contributions for any common object, which does not yield as equal and coincident benefit."

"Plunder and devastation ever march in the train of irregulars."

"The science of politics, however, like most other sciences, has received great improvement."

"As long as the reason of man continues fallible, and he is at liberty to exercise it, different opinions will be formed."

"We might defy the little arts of little politicians to control, or vary, the irresistible and unchangeable course of nature."

"The ability of a country to pay taxes, must always be proportioned, in a great degree, to the quantity of money in circulation, and to the celerity with which it circulates."

"Civil power properly organized and exerted, is capable of diffusing its force to a very great extent; and can, in a manner, reproduce itself in every part of a great empire, by a judicious arrangement of subordinate institutions."

"It is, that in a democracy, the people meet and exercise the government in person: in a republic, they assemble and administer it by their representatives and agents. A democracy, consequently, must be confined to a small spot. A republic may be extended over a large region."

"Why has government been instituted at all? Because the passions of men will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice, without constraint."

"When the sword is once drawn, the passions of men observe no bounds of moderation."

"Though the ancient feudal systems were not, strictly speaking, confederacies, yet they partook of the nature of that species of associations."

"It happened but too often, according to Plutarch, that the deputies of the strongest cities, awed and corrupted those of the weaker; and that judgment went in favor of the most powerful party."

"Each circle is the miniature picture of the deformities of this political monster."

"Experience is the oracle of truth; and where its responses are unequivocal, they ought to be conclusive and sacred."

"The natural cure for an ill administration, in a popular or representative constitution, is a change of men."

"One of the weak sides of republics, among their numerous advantages, is, that they afford too easy an inlet to foreign corruption."

"The circumstances that endanger the safety of nations are infinite; and for this reason, no constitutional shackles can wisely be imposed on the power to which the care of it is committed."

"Though a wide ocean separates the United States from Europe, yet there are various considerations that warn us against an excess of confidence or security."

"War, like most other things, is a science to be acquired and perfected by diligence, by perseverance, by time, and by practice."

"Can it be supposed, that there would not be found one man, discerning enough to detect so atrocious a conspiracy, or bold or honest enough to apprize his constituents of their danger?"

"Man is very much a creature of habit."

"The means to be employed, must be proportioned to the extent of the mischief."

"To render an army unnecessary, will be a more certain method of preventing its existence, than a thousand prohibitions upon paper."

"How is it possible that a government, half supplied and always necessitous, can fulfil the purposes of its institution; can provide for the security, advance the prosperity, or support the reputation of the commonwealth?"

"Caution and investigation are a necessary armour against error and imposition."

"It is evident that this could not have been the intention, and that it will not bear a construction of the kind."

"What is a power, but the ability or faculty of doing a thing?"

"To argue upon abstract principles, that this co-ordinate authority cannot exist, would be to set up theory and supposition against fact and reality."

"Necessity, especially in politics, often occasions false hopes, false reasonings, and a system of measures correspondently erroneous."

"Happy will it be for ourselves, and most honourable for human nature, if we have wisdom and virtue enough, to set so glorious an example to mankind."

"The novelty of the undertaking immediately strikes us."

"It is a matter both of wonder and regret, that those who raise so many objections against the new constitution, should never call to mind the defects of that which is to be exchanged for it."

"The proposed constitution, therefore, even when tested by the rules laid down by its antagonists, is, in strictness, neither a national nor a federal constitution; but a composition of both."

"It could not be unknown to them, that the hopes and expectations of the great body of citizens, throughout this great empire, were turned with the greatest anxiety, to the event of their deliberations."

"A bad cause seldom fails to betray itself."

"Nothing which tends to facilitate the intercourse between the states, can be deemed unworthy of the public care."

"Canada was to be admitted of right, on her joining in the measures of the United States; and the other colonies, by which were evidently meant, the other British colonies, at the discretion of the nine states."

"The right of coining money, which is here taken from the states, was left in their hands by the confederation, as a concurrent right with that of congress, under an exception in favour of the exclusive right of congress to regulate the alloy and value."

"We have heard of the impious doctrine in the old world, that the people were made for kings, not kings for people."

"A local spirit will infallibly prevail much more in the members of the congress, than a national spirit will prevail in the legislatures of the particular states."

"I am fully aware, that among the many excellent principles which they exemplify, they carry strong marks of the haste, and still stronger of the inexperience, under which they were framed."

"It will not be denied, that power is of an encroaching nature, and that it ought to be effectively restrained from passing the limits assigned to it."

"But a nation of philosophers is as little to be expected, as the philosophical race of kings wished for by Plato."

"When men exercise their reason coolly and freely on a variety of distinct questions, they inevitably fall into different opinions on some of them. When they are governed by a common passion, their opinions, if they are so to be called, will be the same."