Fisher Ames

“The essence, and almost the quintessence, of good government is, to protect property and its rights.”

“Faction is an adherence to interests foreign to the interests of the state.”

“To be the favorite of an ignorant multitude, a man must descend to their level; he must desire what they desire, and virtues are not desirable.”

“A monarchy is a merchantman which sails well, but will sometimes strike on a rock, and go to the bottom; whilst a republic is a raft which would never sink, but then your feet are always in the water.”

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

“Our country is too big for union, too sordid for patriotism, too democratic for liberty. What is to become of it, He who made it knows.”

“Falsehood and delusion are allowed in no case whatever: But, as in the exercise of all the virtues, there is an economy of truth.”

“The passions of men are furious and jealous, and intellectuals are supplied with arguments to justify the passions.”