Alexander Hamilton quotes: wise famous quotes, sayings and quotations by Alexander Hamilton

Alexander Hamilton Famous Quotes & Sayings

Discover top inspirational quotes from Alexander Hamilton on Wise Famous Quotes.

Those who stand for nothing fall for everything.

In proportion as I discover the worthlessness of other pursuits, the value of my Eliza and of domestic happiness rises in my estimation.

The deliberative sense of the community should govern.

Power over a man's subsistence is power over his will.

Those who do not industrialize become hewers of wood and hawkers of water

Every nation ought to have a right to provide for its own happiness.

A promise must never be broken.

Men are rather reasoning than reasonable animals, for the most part governed by the impulse of passion.

In the usual progress of things, the necessities of a nation in every stage of its existence will be found at least equal to its resources.

That there may happen cases in which the national government may be necessitated to resort to force, cannot be denied.

If we must have an enemy at the head of government, let it be one whom we can oppose, and for whom we are not responsible.

If the Constitution is adopted (and it was) the Union will be in fact and in theory an association of States or a Confederacy.

It is just observation that the people commonly intend the Public Good.

The art of reading is to skip judiciously.

I'm past patiently waitin,' I'm passionately smashin' every expectation, every action's an act of creation.

Americans rouse - be unanimous, be virtuous, be firm, exert your courage, trust in Heaven, and nobly defy the enemies both of God and man!

As to religion a moderate stock will satisfy me. She must believe in god and hate a saint.

The masses are asses.

Schemes to subvert the liberties of a great community require time to mature them for execution.

Caution and investigation are a necessary armor against error and imposition.

Nothing is more natural to men in office, than to look with peculiar deference towards that authority to which they owe their official existence.

A habit of labor in the people is as essential to the health and rigor of their minds and bodies as it is conducive to the welfare of the state.

In disquisitions of every kind there are certain primary truths, or first principles, upon which all subsequent reasoning must depend.

Here sir, the people govern.

What is the most sacred duty and the greatest source of our security in a Republic? An inviolable respect for the Constitution and Laws.

The propriety of a law, in a constitutional light, must always be determined by the nature of the powers upon which it is founded.

No character, however upright, is a match for constantly reiterated attacks, however false.

It will follow that that government ought to be clothed with all powers requisite to complete execution of its trust.

The honor of a nation is its life.

Civil liberty is only natural liberty, modified and secured by the sanctions of civil society.

The pains taken to preserve peace include a proportional responsibility that equal pains be taken to be prepared for war.

The laws of Congress are restricted to a certain sphere, and when they depart from this sphere, they are no longer supreme or binding.

There is a certain enthusiasm in liberty, that makes human nature rise above itself, in acts of bravery and heroism.

A well adjusted person is one who makes the same mistake twice without getting nervous.

the fate of an empire in many respects the most interesting in the world.

Laws are a dead letter without courts to expound and define their true meaning and operation.

It has been observed, [that for the federal government] to coerce the States is one of the maddest projects that was ever devised.

I never expect a perfect work from an imperfect man.

How can you trust people who are poor and own no property? ... Inequality of property will exist as long as liberty exists.

An avaricious man might be tempted to betray the interests of the state for the acquisition of wealth.
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Real firmness is good for anything; strut is good for nothing.

Let experience, the least fallible guide of human opinion, be appealed to for an answer to these inquiries.

Remember civil and religious liberty always go together: if the foundation of the one be sapped, the other will fall of course.

A national debt, if it is not excessive, will be to us a national blessing.

We are attempting, by this Constitution, to abolish factions, and to unite all parties for the general welfare.

Here, sir, the people govern; here they act by their immediate representatives.

If we incline too much to democracy, we shall soon shoot into a monarchy.

It's not tyranny we desire; it's a just, limited, federal government.

These are not vague inferences ... but they are solid conclusions drawn from the natural and necessary progress of human affairs.

The Achaeans soon experienced, as often happens, that a victorious and powerful ally is but another name for a master.

In the main it will be found that a power over a man's support (salary) is a power over his will.

Nobody expects to trust his body overmuch after the age of fifty.

The loss of liberty to a generous mind is worse than death.

When the sword is once drawn, the passions of men observe no bounds of moderation.

Why has government been instituted at all? Because the passions of man will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice without constraint.

Best of wives and best of women.

Men are reasoning rather than reasonable animals.

Real liberty is neither found in despotism or the extremes of democracy, but in moderate governments.

Divide et impera must be the motto of every nation that either hates or fears us.

The practice of arbitrary imprisonments have been, in all ages, the favorite and most formidable instruments of tyranny.

Common interest may always be reckoned upon as the surest bond of sympathy.

[V]igor of government is essential to the security of liberty ...

The honor of a nation is its life. Deliberately to abandon it is to commit an act of political suicide.

The [president] has no particle of spiritual jurisdiction ...

Nature of war to increase the executive at the expense of the legislative authority.

All communities divide themselves into the few and the many. the first are the rich and well-born, the other the mass of the people

If the sword of oppression be permitted to lop off one limb without opposition, reiterated strokes will soon dismember the whole body.

The Christian Constitutional Society, its object is first: The support of the Christian religion. Second: The support of the United States.

I think the first duty of society is justice.

I would die to preserve the law upon a solid foundation; but take away liberty, and the foundation is destroyed.

The passions of a revolution are apt to hurry even good men into excesses.

A nation has a right to manage its own concerns as it thinks fit.

[H]owever weak our country may be, I hope we shall never sacrifice our liberties.

You should not have taken advantage of my sensibility to steal into my affections without my consent.

People sometimes attribute my success to my genius; all the genius I know anything about is hard work.

The powers contained in a constitution ... ought to be construed liberally in advancement of the public good.

Effective resistance to usurpers is possible only provided the citizens understand their rights and are disposed to defend them.

The constitution shall never be construed ... to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms.

When avarice takes the lead in a state, it is commonly the forerunner of its fall.

And it is long since I have learned to hold popular opinion of no value.

The civil jury is a valuable safeguard to liberty.

Can any reasonable man be well disposed toward a government which makes war and carnage the only means of supporting itself?

Measures which serve to abridge the free competition of foreign Articles, have a tendency to occasion an enhancement of prices.

Self-preservation is the first principle of our nature.

The injury which may possibly be done by defeating a few good laws, will be amply compensated by the advantage of preventing a number of bad ones.

Take mankind in general, they are vicious-their passions may be operated upon.

That experience is the parent of wisdom is an adage the truth of which is recognized by the wisest as well as the simplest of mankind.

A powerful, victorious ally is yet another name for master.

Its objects are CONTRACTS with foreign nations which have the force of law, but derive it from the obligations of good faith.

Hard words are very rarely useful. Real firmness is good for every thing. Strut is good for nothing.

The superiority ... enjoyed by nations that have ... perfected a branch of industry, constitutes a ... formidable obstacle.

The multitude ... have not a sufficient stock of reason and knowledge to guide them ... It is not safe to trust to the virtue of any people.

War, like most other things, is a science to be acquired and perfected by diligence, by perserverance, by time, and by practice.

Am I then more of an American than those who drew their first breath on American ground?

The treaties of the United States, to have any force at all, must be considered as part of the law of the land.

Nothing could be more ill-judged than that intolerant spirit which has, at all times, characterized political parties.

Foreign influence is truly the Grecian horse to a republic. We cannot be too careful to exclude its influence.

Man is a reasoning rather than a reasonable animal.

CREDIT supposes specific and permanent funds for the punctual payment of interest, with a moral certainty of a final redemption of the principal.

the inducements of philanthropy to those of patriotism,