James Madison (c. 1751-1836)
“Liberty is to faction what air is to fire, an aliment without which it instantly expires. But it could not be less folly to abolish liberty, which is essential to political life, because it nourishes faction, than it would be to wish the annihilation of air, which is essential to animal life, because it imparts to fire its destructive agency.”
- From The Federalist No. 10, by James Madison, in The Federalist Papers. Republished by the Henry Regnery Company (Chicago, Illinois, 1948).
