Self-Government

“The Choice of Hercules” by Annibale Carracci

“We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of all our political institutions upon the capacity of mankind for self-government, upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God.” -James Madison in The Federalist Papers

“Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.” -Benjamin Franklin

“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” -John Adams

“That Providence has given to every human being the degree of reason necessary to direct himself in the affairs that interest him exclusively is the grand maxim upon which civil and political society rests in the United States.” -Alexis de Tocqueville in Democracy in America

“That government is best which governs the least, because its people discipline themselves.” -Thomas Jefferson

“The calm man, having learned how to govern himself, knows how to adapt himself to others; and they, in turn, reverence his spiritual strength, and feel that they can learn of him and rely upon him. The more tranquil a man becomes, the greater is his success, his influence, his power, for good…The strong, calm man is always loved and revered.” -James Allen in As a Man Thinketh

And where do we learn virtue and self-governance? Click the image above to explore even deeper.