The right of self-defense never ceases. It is among the most sacred, and alike necessary to nations and to individuals.
James MonroeA free, virtuous, and enlightened people must know full well the great principles and causes upon which their happiness depends.
James MonroeWhile we assert for ourselves a freedom to embrace, to profess, and to observe, the Religion which we believe to be of divine origin, we cannot deny an equal freedom to them whose minds have not yielded to the evidence which has convinced us.
James MonroeThe best form of government is that which is most likely to prevent the greatest sum of evil.
James MonroeHow prone all human institutions have been to decay; how subject the best-formed and most wisely organized governments have been to lose their check and totally dissolve; how difficult it has been for mankind, in all ages and countries, to preserve their dearest rights and best privileges, impelled as it were by an irresistible fate of despotism.
James Monroe