'Knowledge will forever govern ignorance.'

'Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world.'

- Albert Einstein

'Mutual ignorance breeds mutual distrust.'

- Businessman Andrew Carnegie (1835–1919)

Hear about James Madison's presidency with The Washington Post's 'Presidential' podcast

As president, Madison governed during periods of constitutional uncertainty, foreign policy crises, and the War of 1812, making him the first American president to serve during a declared war. This podcast analyzes how his constitutional ideas translated into effective presidential leadership.

'I have learned from experience that the greater part of our happiness or misery depends upon our dispositions, and not upon our circumstances.'

- Martha Washington (1731-1802)

'The beautiful thing about learning is nobody can take it away from you.'

- American musician BB King (1925-2015)

'We become not a melting pot but a beautiful mosaic. Different people, different beliefs, different yearnings, different hopes, different dreams.'

- President Jimmy Carter (1924-2024)

'Men and nature must work hand in hand. The throwing out of balance of the resources of nature throws out of balance also the lives of men.'

- President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945)

James Madison spoke six languages

James Madison was competent in six languages: Latin, Greek, French, Italian, Spanish, and English. This shaped his classical education and informed his political philosophy. He later also studied Hebrew at the College of New Jersey (now Princeton).

'Keep working on a plan. Make no little plans. Make the biggest one you can think of, and spend the rest of your life carrying it out.'

- President Harry Truman (1884-1972)

'There cannot be mental atrophy in any person who continues to observe, to remember what he observes, and to seek answers for his unceasing hows and whys about things.'

-Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922)

'Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.'

- Author James Baldwin (1924–1987)

Ben Franklin’s edit helped define the Declaration’s philosophy

When Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration, he wrote that its truths were “sacred and undeniable.” Benjamin Franklin urged replacing that phrase with “self-evident,” grounding the document in reason rather than religious authority and sharpening its Enlightenment logic.

Madison argued that the government had no authority to regulate faith

James Madison viewed religion as a matter of individual conscience beyond the reach of the state, opposing government funding of churches and advancing a model of religious liberty based on noninterference rather than official toleration.

The Smithsonian was first funded by a man who never visited the US

The Smithsonian Institution was established through a gift in the will of James Smithson, a British scientist who never visited America but left his fortune to establish an institution dedicated to the "increase and diffusion of knowledge."

'What each of us must come to realize is that our intent always comes through.'

- First African American Supreme Court justice Thurgood Marshall (1908-1993)

'Be silent, if you choose; but when it is necessary, speak—and speak in such a way that people will remember it.'

- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791)

Science communicator Bill Nye (1955 - ) on science

"Science is the key to our future, and if you don’t believe in science, then you’re holding everybody back."

'The fact is always obvious much too late, but the most singular difference between happiness and joy is that happiness is a solid and joy a liquid.'

-Writer J.D. Salinger (1919-2010)

'In life, unlike chess, the game continues after checkmate.'

- Isaac Asimov

James Monroe first outlined what became known as the 'Monroe Doctrine' during his 1823 Annual Message to Congress

President Monroe used his Annual Message to Congress to warn European powers against further colonization in the Western Hemisphere, asserting US opposition to foreign intervention and laying the foundation for a cornerstone of American foreign policy that remains to this day.

'The minute you start talking about what you're going to do if you lose, you have lost.'

- Diplomat George Shultz (1920–2021)

'The first of April is the day we remember what we are the other 364 days of the year.'

- Mark Twain, from "Pudd'nhead Wilson and Other Tales"

'No army can withstand the strength of an idea whose time has come.'

-Author Victor Hugo (1802-1885)

'Our greatest responsibility is to be good ancestors.'

- Polio vaccine developer Jonas Salk (1914–1995)

'One child, one teacher, one book, one pen can change the world'

- Activist and author Malala Yousafzai (1997-present)

The original copy of the Declaration of Independence is not a pristine document, and even features a smudged anonymous handprint in the bottom left corner.

The US Constitution is widely regarded as the longest-standing written national constitution still in force—see how it has influenced rights worldwide.

The rivalry between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson centered on federalism—the question of how much power the federal government should hold relative to the states.

After NASA's Voyager 1 captured Earth as a single pixel as it left the solar system in 1990, astronomer Carl Sagan used the image to reflect on humanity's fragility and the responsibility to protect 'the only world we've ever known.'

Mark Twain spent decades feuding with the US Postal Service, convinced its costs and regulations were bureaucratic overreach.

Many legends about George Washington, including his supposed wooden teeth and the story of cutting down the cherry tree, lack evidence.

SpongeBob exemplifies Aristotle's philosophy for living well because he understands that happiness doesn't come from external factors like money, recognition, or power.

At the beginning of the 20th century, a group of young men ate standard American food—replete with food additives like borax and formaldehyde—as part of government research to better understand food safety.

Discover the catastrophic consequences of a failure of the US electrical grid—something that is more likely than many Americans think.

'Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone,' a work by American painter Thomas Moran, inspired Congress to establish Yellowstone National Park.

Abraham Lincoln was almost assassinated weeks before his inauguration as he traveled from Illinois to DC through Baltimore in 1861; it took two independent claims for Lincoln to be convinced the threat was real

Jimmy Carter signed a 1978 bill that legalized home brewing, a move credited with kick-starting the craft beer industry.

Chaos theory—informally known as the butterfly effect—is the reason why weather forecasts are presented with probabilities rather than certainties.

Legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed the SC Johnson headquarters in Wisconsin, aiming to make a cathedral-like workplace

The word 'jazz' evolved from 'jasm,' 19th-century American slang for 'energy'

Search a massive database of over 4 decades of clues from the TV quiz show 'Jeopardy!'

The concept of phantom limbs, the perception that amputated limbs are still present, dates back to a French military surgeon in the 16th century.

During the French Revolution, a botanist's letter asking about "dear Rhus" (poison ivy) was intercepted, leading authorities to suspect he was conspiring with the Russians.

The term 'algorithm' originated from the Latinized name of al-Khwārizmī, a 9th-century mathematician whose works introduced Arabic numerals and the decimal-based numeral system to Europe and whose treatise 'Al-Jabr' gave algebra its name.

Warren Buffett's former professor Benjamin Graham is known as the 'father of value investing,' a strategy in which investors seek to buy stocks trading below their intrinsic worth.

Apeirophobia is an overwhelming fear of living forever, perhaps stemming from the brain's inability to conceptualize an infinite life.

A researcher recently discovered an interview from 1967 between groundbreaking journalist Joan Didion and the Grateful Dead, years before the band became an institution.

Studies suggest when you sleep is as important as how much you get, and syncing with your circadian rhythms may lead to less fatigue and improved long-term health outcomes

The 2026 Ebola outbreak is hampered by a lack of vaccine against the species of the virus, heightening the need for rapid tests to aid in disease control.