George Mason Quotes

I begin to grow heartily tired of the etiquette and nonsense so fashionable in this city.

Slavery discourages arts and manufactures.

I ask you sir, who are the militia? They consist now of the whole people.

All power is vested in, and consequently derived from, the people; [...] magistrates are their trustees and servants, and at all times amenable to them.

The poor despise labor when performed by slaves.

No free government, or the blessings of liberty, can be preserved to any people, but by a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality, and virtue.

As nations can not be rewarded or punished in the next world they must be in this.

All men are by nature born equally free and independent.

Our All is at Stake, and the little Conveniencys and Comforts of Life, when set in Competition with our Liberty, ought to be rejected not with Reluctance but with Pleasure.

Who are the militia, if they be not the people, of this country...? I ask who are the militia? They consist now of the whole people, except a few public officers.

There is a Passion natural to the Mind of man, especially a free Man, which renders him impatient of Restraint.

All men have an equal, natural and unalienable right to the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience; and that no particular sect or society of Christians ought to be favored or established by law in preference to others.

Happiness and Prosperity are now within our Reach; but to attain and preserve them must depend upon our own Wisdom and Virtue.

Nothing so strongly impels a man to regard the interest of his constituents, as the certainty of returning to the general mass of the people, from whence he was taken, where he must participate in their burdens.

The augmentation of slaves weakens the states; and such a trade is diabolical in itself, and disgraceful to mankind.

All power is lodged in, and consequently derived from, the people. We should wear it as a breastplate, and buckle it on as our armour.

The question then will be, whether a consolidated government can preserve the freedom and secure the rights of the people.

Those gentlemen, who will be elected senators, will fix themselves in the federal town, and become citizens of that town more than of your state.

No point is of more importance than that the right of impeachment should be continued. Shall any man be above Justice?

The freedom of the press is one of the great bulwarks of liberty, and can never be restrained but by despotic governments.

Don't wait around for your life to happen to you. Find something that makes you happy, and do it. Because everything else is all just background noise.

The laws of nature are the laws of God, whose authority can be superseded by no power on earth.

We came equals into this world, and equals shall we go out of it.

I ask, sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people except for a few public officials.

To disarm the people... was the best and most effectual way to enslave them.

Considering the natural lust for power so inherent in man, I fear the thirst of power will prevail to oppress the people.