George Mason IV was an American planter, politician, and delegate to the U.S. Constitutional Convention of 1787, one of three delegates who refused to sign the Constitution. This George Mason quotes on power, justice will motivate you.
Best George Mason Quotes
- “To disarm the people… was the best and most effectual way to enslave them.” ~ George Mason
- “Considering the natural lust for power so inherent in man, I fear the thirst of power will prevail to oppress the people.” ~ George Mason
- “That no free government, nor the blessings of liberty, can be preserved to any people, but by a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality, and virtue; by a frequent recurrence to fundamental principles; and by the recognition by all citizens that they have duties as well as rights, and that such rights cannot be enjoyed save in a society where the law is respected and due process is observed.” ~ George Mason
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“I ask, sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people except for a few public officials.” ~ George Mason
- “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.” ~ George Mason
- “No point is of more importance than that the right of impeachment should be continued. Shall any man be above Justice?” ~ George Mason
- “The freedom of the press is one of the great bulwarks of liberty, and can never be restrained but by despotic governments.” ~ George Mason
- “Government is, or ought to be instituted for the common benefit, protection, and security of the people, nation, or community… when any government shall be found inadequate or contrary to these purposes, a majority of the community hath an indubitable, inalienable, and indefeasible right to reform, alter, or abolish it, in such manner as shall be judged most conducive to the public weal.” ~ George Mason
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“We came equals into this world, and equals shall we go out of it.” ~ George Mason
- “A well-regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained to arms, is the proper, natural, and safe defense of a free state; that standing armies, in time of peace, should be avoided as dangerous to liberty; and that in all cases the military should be under strict subordination to, and governed by, the civil power.” ~ George Mason
- “When the resolution of enslaving America was formed in Great Britain, the British parliament was advised by an artful man [Sir William Keith], who was governor of Pennsylvania, to disarm the people. That it was the best and most effectual way to enslave them. But that they should not do it openly; but to weaken them and let them sink gradually, by totally disusing and neglecting the militia.” ~ George Mason
- “All men are created equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights, of which they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their posterity; among which are the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing the obtaining of happiness and safety.” ~ George Mason
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“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.” ~ George Mason
- “Government is, or ought to be instituted for the common benefit, protection, and security of the people, nation, or community; of all the various modes and forms of government, that is best which is capable of producing the greatest degree of happiness and safety, and is most effectually secured against the danger of maladministration.” ~ George Mason
- “The laws of nature are the laws of God, whose authority can be superseded by no power on earth.” ~ George Mason
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“The augmentation of slaves weakens the states; and such a trade is diabolical in itself and disgraceful to mankind.” ~ George Mason
- “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.” ~ George Mason
- “The question then will be, whether a consolidated government can preserve the freedom and secure the rights of the people.” ~ George Mason
- “Every master of slaves is born a petty tyrant. They bring the judgment of heaven on a Country. As nations can not be rewarded or punished in the next world they must be in this. By an inevitable chain of causes & effects providence punishes national sins, by national calamities.” ~ George Mason
- “Happiness and Prosperity are now within our reach, but to attain and preserve them must depend upon our own Wisdom and Virtue.” ~ George Mason
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“All men are by nature born equally free and independent.” ~ George Mason
- “There is a Passion natural to the Mind of man, especially a free Man, which renders him impatient of Restraint.” ~ George Mason
- “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.” ~ George Mason
- “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.” ~ George Mason Quotes
- “As much as I value a union of all the states, I would not admit the southern states into the union, unless they agreed to the discontinuance of this disgraceful trade because it would bring weakness and not strength to the union.” ~ George Mason Quotes
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“In all our associations; in all our agreements let us never lose sight of this fundamental maxim – that all power was originally lodged in, and consequently is derived from, the people.” ~ George Mason
- “That in all capital or criminal prosecutions a man bath a right to demand the cause and nature of his accusation, to be confronted with the accusers and witnesses, to call for evidence in his favor, and to a speedy trial by an impartial jury of twelve men of his vicinage, without whose unanimous consent he cannot be found guilty; nor can he be compelled to give evidence against himself; that no man be deprived of his liberty, except by the law of the land or the judgment of his peers.” ~ George Mason
- “All power is vested in, and consequently derived from, the people; […] magistrates are their trustees and servants, and at all times amenable to them.” ~ George Mason
- “Every selfish motive therefore, every family attachment, ought to recommend such a system of policy as would provide no less carefully for the rights and happiness of the lowest than of the highest orders of Citizens.” ~ George Mason Quotes
- “I give and bequeath my soul to Almighty God that gave it me, hoping that through the meritorious death and passion of our Savior and Redeemer Jesus Christ to receive absolution and remission for all my sins.” ~ George Mason
- “It is contrary to the principles of reason and justice that any should be compelled to contribute to the maintenance of a church with which their consciences will not permit them to join, and from which they can derive no benefit; for remedy whereof, and that equal liberty as well religious as civil, maybe universally extended to all the good people of this commonwealth.” ~ George Mason
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“The poor despise labor when performed by slaves.” ~ George Mason
- “A few years’ experiences will convince us that those things which at the time they happened we regarded as our greatest misfortunes have proved our greatest blessings.” ~ George Mason
- “That the people have a right to uniform government; and, therefore, that no government separate from, or independent of the government of Virginia, ought to be erected or established within the limits thereof.” ~ George Mason
- “Successfully reframing the climate debate in the United States from one based on environmental values to one based on health values…holds great promise to help American society better understand and appreciate the risks of climate change.” ~ George Mason
