The danger in our system is that the general government, which represents the interests of the whole, may encroach on the states, which represent the peculiar and local interests, or that the latter may encroach on the former.
John C. CalhounRead
I hold that there is a mysterious connection between the fate of this country and that of Mexico; so much so that her independence and capability of sustaining herself are almost as essential to our prosperity and the maintenance of our institutions as they are to hers.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the interconnectedness of nations and their shared destinies.
John C. Calhoun highlights the deep connection between the United States and Mexico, suggesting that the stability and independence of each country are intertwined. He argues that the prosperity of one nation is crucial not only for its own growth but also for the well-being of its neighboring country, indicating a broader principle of interdependence among nations.
Themes
InterconnectionNationsIndependenceProsperityInterdependence
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a diplomatic meeting to express the importance of collaboration between the U.S. and Mexico.
More from John C. Calhoun
All quotes →There is a tendency in all parties, when they have been for a long time in possession of power, to augment it.
John C. CalhounRead
The error is in the assumption that the General Government is a party to the constitutional compact. The States ... formed the compact, acting as sovereign and independent communities.
John C. CalhounRead
There is not an example on record of any free state holding a province of the same extent and population without disastrous consequences. The nations conquered and held as a province have, in time, retaliated by destroying the liberty of their conquerors through the corrupting effect of extended patronage and irresponsible power.
John C. CalhounRead
Stripped of all its covering, the naked question is, whether ours is a federal or consolidated government; a constitutional or absolute one; a government resting solidly on the basis of the sovereignty of the States, or on the unrestrained will of a majority; a form of government, as in all other unlimited ones, in which injustice, violence, and force must ultimately prevail.
John C. CalhounRead
Restore, without delay, the equilibrium between revenue and expenditures, which has done so much to destroy our credit and derange the whole fabric of government. If that should not be done, the government and country will be involved, ere long, in overwhelming difficulties.
John C. CalhounRead
Similar quotes
Even death is not to be feared by one who has lived wisely.
Gautama BuddhaRead
People do not think in English or Chinese or Apache; they think in a language of thought. This language of thought probably looks a bit like all these languagesBut compared with any given language, mentalese must be richer in some ways and simpler in others.
Steven PinkerRead
In lazy apathy let stoics boast, their virtue fixed, 'tis fixed as in a frost.
Alexander PopeRead
Cripple God, who always desires more than he's able to have, and doesn't always realize this to begin with. Who has built clocks, but not the time that they measure. Has built systems or mechanisms that serve particular purposes, but they too have outgrown these purposes and betrayed them. And has created an infinity that, from being the measure of the power he was supposed to have, turned into the measure of his boundless failure.
Stanislaw LemRead
Only in the last moment in history has the delusion arisen that people can flourish apart from the rest of the living world.
E. O. WilsonRead
Strange how blind people are! They are horrified by the torture chambers of the Middle Ages, but their arsenals fill them with pride!
Bertha Von SuttnerRead