Alexander Hamilton (quotes)

Here sir, the people govern.
Learn to think continentally.
A promise must never be broken.
The art of reading is to skip judiciously.
The civil jury is a valuable safeguard to liberty.
Man is a reasoning rather than a reasonable animal.
The deliberative sense of the community should govern.
Self-preservation is the first principle of our nature.
The loss of liberty to a generous mind is worse than death.
I never expect to see a perfect work from an imperfect man.
A powerful, victorious ally is yet another name for master.
Sound policy condemns the practice of accumulating debts.
We must make the best of those ills which cannot be avoided.
Even to observe neutrality you must have a strong government.
Vigor of government is essential to the security of liberty.
The [president] has no particle of spiritual jurisdiction. . . .
Nobody expects to trust his body overmuch after the age of fifty.
A nation has a right to manage its own concerns as it thinks fit.
Every nation ought to have a right to provide for its own happiness.
One great error is that we suppose mankind more honest than they are.
It’s not tyranny we desire; it’s a just, limited, federal government.
It is just observation that the people commonly intend the Public Good.
And it is long since I have learned to hold popular opinion of no value.
Take mankind as they are, and what are they governed by? Their passions.
Those who do not industrialize become hewers of wood and hawkers of water
If we incline too much to democracy, we shall soon shoot into a monarchy.
The passions of a revolution are apt to hurry even good men into excesses.
The attributes of sovereignty are now enjoyed by every state in the Union.
Ambition without principle never was long under the guidance of good sense.
Common interest may always be reckoned upon as the surest bond of sympathy.
A national debt, if it is not excessive, will be to us a national blessing.
No man in his senses can hesitate in choosing to be free, rather than a slave.
Take mankind in general, they are vicious-their passions may be operated upon.
The love for our native land strengthens our individual and national character.
Here, sir, the people govern; here they act by their immediate representatives.
I have thought it my duty to exhibit things as they are, not as they ought to be.
However weak our country may be, I hope we shall never sacrifice our liberties.
Opinion, whether well or ill-founded, is the governing principle of human affairs
Divide et impera must be the motto of every nation that either hates or fears us.
Great Ambition, unchecked by principle, or the love of Glory, is an unruly Tyrant.
Our countrymen have all the folly of the ass and all the passiveness of the sheep.
When the sword is once drawn, the passions of men observe no bounds of moderation.
The people are turbulent and changing; they seldom judge right or make good decision.
There is a contagion in example which few men have sufficient force of mind to resist.
A well adjusted person is one who makes the same mistake twice without getting nervous.
The best we can hope for concerning the people at large is that they be properly armed.
There can be no time, no state of things, in which Credit is not essential to a Nation.
A nation which can prefer disgrace to danger is prepared for a master, and deserves one.
As to religion a moderate stock will satisfy me. She must believe in god and hate a saint.
[A] power equal to every possible contingency must exist somewhere in the government . . .
No character, however upright, is a match for constantly reiterated attacks, however false.
A fondness for power is implanted in most men, and it is natural to abuse it when acquired.
Those who have a tolerable knowledge of human nature will not stand in need of such lights.
The system is the best that the present views and circumstances of the country will permit.
Laws are a dead letter without courts to expound and define their true meaning and operation.
The genius of the people will ill brook the inquisitive and peremptory spirit of excise laws.
Every individual of the community at large has an equal right to the protection of government.
Civil liberty is only natural liberty, modified and secured by the sanctions of civil society.
Schemes to subvert the liberties of a great community require time to mature them for execution.
In the main it will be found that a power over a man’s support [salary] is a power over his will.
It is of the nature of war to increase the executive at the expense of the legislative authority.
The obscurity is much oftener in the passions and prejudices of the reasoner than in the subject.
Hard words are very rarely useful. Real firmness is good for every thing. Strut is good for nothing.
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.
Men are rather reasoning than reasonable animals for the most part governed by the impulse of passion.
The honor of a nation is its life. Deliberately to abandon it is to commit an act of political suicide.
Law is defined to be a rule of action; but how can that be a rule, which is little known and less fixed?
In the general course of human nature, A power over a man’s subsistence amounts to a power over his will.
The powers contained in a constitution…ought to be construed liberally in advancement of the public good.
Let experience, the least fallible guide of human opinion, be appealed to for an answer to these inquiries.
The natural cure for an ill-administration, in a popular or representative constitution, is a change of men.
Little more can reasonably be aimed at with respect to the people at large than to have them properly armed.
Foreign influence is truly the Grecian horse to a republic. We cannot be too careful to exclude its influence.
I propose . . . . The conformity of the proposed Constitution to the true principles of republican government.
They are not rules prescribed by the sovereign to the subject, but agreements between sovereign and sovereign.
A sacred respect for the constitutional law is the vital principle, the sustaining energy of a free government.
We are attempting, by this Constitution, to abolish factions, and to unite all parties for the general welfare.
The treaties of the United States, to have any force at all, must be considered as part of the law of the land.
I would die to preserve the law upon a solid foundation; but take away liberty, and the foundation is destroyed.
Experience is the oracle of truth; and where its responses are unequivocal, they ought to be conclusive and sacred.
[W]e must extend the authority of the Union to the persons of the citizens – the only proper objects of government.
There is a certain enthusiasm in liberty, that makes human nature rise above itself, in acts of bravery and heroism.
Give all the power to the many, they will oppress the few. Give all the power to the few, they will oppress the many.
It will follow that that government ought to be clothed with all powers requisite to complete execution of its trust.
The superiority…enjoyed by nations that have…perfected a branch of industry, constitutes a…formidable obstacle.
Nothing could be more ill-judged than that intolerant spirit which has, at all times, characterized political parties.
That there may happen cases in which the national government may be necessitated to resort to force, cannot be denied.
The Achaeans soon experienced, as often happens, that a victorious and powerful ally is but another name for a master.
[Imeachable conduct is] misconduct by public men, or, in other words, from the abuse or violation of some public trust.
The practice of arbitrary imprisonments have been, in all ages, the favorite and most formidable instruments of tyranny.
To presume a want of motives for such contests . . . would be to forget that men are ambitious, vindictive, and rapacious.
As riches increase and accumulate in few hands . . . the tendency of things will be to depart from the republican standard.
How can you trust people who are poor and own no property? … Inequality of property will exist as long as liberty exists.
Can any reasonable man be well disposed toward a government which makes war and carnage the only means of supporting itself?
Its objects are CONTRACTS with foreign nations which have the force of law, but derive it from the obligations of good faith.
If the Constitution is adopted (and it was) the Union will be in fact and in theory an association of States or a Confederacy.
Remember civil and religious liberty always go together: if the foundation of the one be sapped, the other will fall of course.
Measures which serve to abridge the free competition of foreign Articles, have a tendency to occasion an enhancement of prices.
Effective resistance to usurpers is possible only provided the citizens understand their rights and are disposed to defend them.
War, like most other things, is a science to be acquired and perfected by diligence, by perserverance, by time, and by practice.
It has been observed, [that for the federal government] to coerce the States is one of the maddest projects that was ever devised.
The propriety of a law, in a constitutional light, must always be determined by the nature of the powers upon which it is founded.
These are not vague inferences . . . but they are solid conclusions drawn from the natural and necessary progress of human affairs.
To model our political system upon speculations of lasting tranquility, is to calculate on the weaker springs of the human character.
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.
The laws of Congress are restricted to a certain sphere, and when they depart from this sphere, they are no longer supreme or binding.
In disquisitions of every kind there are certain primary truths, or first principles, upon which all subsequent reasoning must depend.
Necessity, especially in politics, often occasions false hopes, false reasonings, and a system of measures, correspondingly erroneous.
What is the most sacred duty and the greatest source of our security in a Republic? An inviolable respect for the Constitution and Laws.
Americans rouse – be unanimous, be virtuous, be firm, exert your courage, trust in Heaven, and nobly defy the enemies both of God and man!
It is the Press which has corrupted our political morals – and it is to the Press we must look for the means of our political regeneration.
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.
Men often oppose a thing merely because they have had no agency in planning it, or because it may have been planned by those whom they dislike.
We are now forming a republican government. Real liberty is never found in despotism or the extremes of democracy, but in moderate governments.
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.
Why has government been instituted at all? Because the passions of man will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice without constraint.
A treaty cannot be made which alters the Constitution of the country, or which infringes and express exceptions to the power of the Constitution.
CREDIT supposes specific and permanent funds for the punctual payment of interest, with a moral certainty of a final redemption of the principal.
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.
Nothing is more natural to men in office, than to look with peculiar deference towards that authority to which they owe their official existence.
Happy will it be for ourselves, and most honorable for human nature, if we have wisdom and virtue enough to set so glorious an example to mankind!
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.
The natural effect of low interest is to increase trade and industry; because undertakings of every kind can be prosecuted with greater advantage.
No person that has enjoyed the sweets of liberty can be insensible of its infinite value, or can reflect on its reverse without horror and detestation
The great leading objects of the federal government, in which revenue is concerned, are to maintain domestic peace, and provide for the common defense.
In politics, as in religion, it is equally absurd to aim at making proselytes by fire and sword. Heresies in either can rarely be cured by persecution.
I have a tender reliance on the mercy of the Almighty, through the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ. I am a sinner. I look to Him for mercy; pray for me.
The institution of delegated power implies that there is a portion of virtue and honor among mankind which may be a reasonable foundation of confidence.
Industry is increased, commodities are multiplied, agriculture and manufacturers flourish: and herein consists the true wealth and prosperity of a state.
States, like individuals, who observe their engagements, are respected and trusted: while the reverse is the fate of those who pursue an opposite conduct.
To all general purposes we have uniformly been one people each individual citizen everywhere enjoying the same national rights, privileges, and protection.
Though a wide ocean separates the United States from Europe, yet there are various considerations that warn us against an excess of confidence or security.
If we are in earnest about giving the Union energy and duration we must abandon the vain project of legislating upon the States in their collective capacities.
There is one transcendant advantage belonging to the province of the State governments . . . -I mean the ordinary administration of criminal and civil justice.
The truth is, after all the declamations we have heard, that the Constitution is itself, in every rational sense, and to every useful purpose, A BILL OF RIGHTS.
It is presumable that no country will be able to borrow of foreigners upon better terms than the United States, because none can, perhaps, afford so good security.
Though individual oppression may now and then proceed fro the courts of justice, the general liberty of the people can never be endangered from that quarter . . .
Safety from external danger is the most powerful director of national conduct. To be more safe, [nations] at length become willing to run the risk of being less free.
The inquiry constantly is what will please, not what will benefit the people. In such a government there can be nothing but temporary expedient, fickleness, and folly.
This [a state militia system] appears to me the only substitute that can be devised for a standing army, and the best possible security against it, if it should exist.
[T]here is not a syllable in the plan under consideration which directly empowers the national courts to construe the laws according to the spirit of the Constitution.
If there are such things as political axioms, the propriety of the judicial power of a government being co-extensive with its legislative, may be ranked among the number.
In framing a Government for a nation we ought, in those provisions which are designed to be permanent, to calculate not on temporary, but on permanent causes of expence.
The power of creating new funds upon new objects of taxation, by its own authority, would enable the national government to borrow as far as its necessities might require.
The means ought to be proportioned to the end; the persons from whose agency the attainment of any end is expected ought to possess the means by which it is to be attained.
For my part, I sincerely esteem the Constitution, a system which without the finger of God, never could have been suggested and agreed upon by such a diversity of interests.
The desire of reward is one of the strongest incentives of human conduct; … the best security for the fidelity of mankind is to make their interest coincide with their duty.
The rights of neutrality will only be respected when they are defended by an adequate power. A nation, despicable by its weakness, forfeits even the privilege of being neutral.
Constitutions should consist only of general provisions; the reason is that they must necessarily be permanent, and that they cannot calculate for the possible change of things.
Government is frequently and aptly classed under two descriptions-a government of force, and a government of laws; the first is the definition of despotism-the last, of liberty.
After an unequivocal experience of the inefficacy of the subsisting federal government, you are called upon to deliberate on a new Constitution for the United States of America.
There can be no profit in the making or selling of things to be destroyed in war. Men may think that they have such profit, but in the end the profit will turn out to be a loss.
The Liberty of the press consists in the right to publish with impunity truth with good motives for justifiable ends, though reflecting on government, magistracy, or individuals.
A republic of this kind, able to withstand an external force, may support itself without any internal corruptions. The form of this society prevents all manner of inconveniences.
A LAW, by the very meaning of the term, includes supremacy. It is a rule which those to whom it is prescribed are bound to observe. This results from every political association.
Money is, with propriety, considered as the vital principle of the body politic; as that which sustains its life and motion, and enables it to perform its most essential functions.
If the exercise of power of internal taxation by the Union should be discovered on experiment to be really inconvenient, the federal government may then forbear the use of it . . .
Government implies the power of making laws. It is essential to the idea of a law, that it be attended with a sanction; or, in other words, a penalty or punishment for disobedience.
It is a general principle of human nature, that a man will be interested in whatever he possesses, in proportion to the firmness or precariousness of the tenure by which he holds it.
The standard of good behavior for the continuance in office of the judicial magistracy is certainly one of the most valuable of the modern improvements in the practice of government.
Jurors should acquit, even against the judge’s instruction . . . if exercising their judgment with discretion and honesty they have a clear conviction the charge of the court is wrong.
It is in vain to hope to guard against events too mighty for human foresight or precaution, and it would be idle to object to a government because it could not perform impossibilities.
And it proves, in the last place, that liberty can have nothing to fear from the judiciary alone, but would have everything to fear from its union with either of the other departments.
…that standing army can never be formidable (threatening) to the liberties of the people, while there is a large body of citizens, little if at all inferior to them in the use of arms.
The circumstances that endanger the safety of nations are infinite, and for this reason no constitutional shackles can wisely be imposed on the power to which the care of it is committed.
Every power vested in a government is in its nature sovereign, and includes by force of the term a right to employ all the means requisite . . . to the attainment of the ends of such power.
Unless your government is respectable, foreigners will invade your rights; and to maintain tranquillity you must be respectable; even to observe neutrality you must have a strong government.
Of those men who have overturned the liberties of republics, the greatest number have begun their career by paying an obsequious court to the people, commencing demagogues and ending tyrants.
A garden, you know, is a very usual refuge of a disappointed politician. Accordingly, I have purchased a few acres about nine miles from town, have built a house, and am cultivating a garden.
When human laws contradict or discountenance the means, which are necessary to preserve the essential rights of any society, they defeat the proper end of all laws, and so become null and void.
This process of election affords a moral certainty that the office of President will seldom fall to the lot of any many who is not in an eminent degree endowed with the requisite qualifications.
When a government betrays the people by amassing too much power and becoming tyrannical, the people have no choice but to exercise their original right of self-defense ‚Äî to fight the government.
The true principle of government is this – make the system complete in its structure; give a perfect proportion and balance to its parts; and the powers you give it will never affect your security.
There are seasons in every country when noise and impudence pass current for worth; and in popular commotions especially, the clamors of interested and factious men are often mistaken for patriotism.
. . . [The Judicial Branch] may truly be said to have neither FORCE nor WILL, but merely judgment; and must ultimately depend upon the aid of the executive arm even for the efficacy of its judgments.
The fabric of American empire ought to rest on the solid basis of THE CONSENT OF THE PEOPLE. The streams of national power ought to flow from that pure, original fountain of all legitimate authority.
There can be no limitation of that authority which is to provide for the defence and protection of the community in any matter essential to the formation, direction, or support of the NATIONAL FORCES.
To cherish and stimulate the activity of the human mind, by multiplying the objects of enterprise, is not among the least considerable of the expedients, by which the wealth of a nation may be promoted.
I will venture to assert that no combination of designing men under heaven will be capable of making a government unpopular which is in its principles a wise and good one, and vigorous in its operations.
Let us recollect that peace or war will not always be left to our option; that however moderate or unambitious we may be, we cannot count upon the moderation, or hope to extinguish the ambition of others.
Tyranny has perhaps oftener grown out of the assumptions of power, called for, on pressing exigencies, by a defective constitution, than out of the full exercise of the largest constitutional authorities.
This power ought to be coextensive with all the possible combinations of such circumstances; and ought to be under the direction of the same councils which are appointed to preside over the common defense.
The idea of restraining the legislative authority, in the means of providing for the national defense, is one of those refinements which owe their origin to a zeal for liberty more ardent than enlightened.
The same rule that teaches the propriety of a partition between the various branches of power, teaches us likewise that this partition ought to be so contrived as to render the one independent of the other.
In a free government, the security for civil rights must be the same as that for religious rights. It consists in the one case in the multiplicity of interests, and in the other in the multiplicity of sects.
I trust that the proposed Constitution afford a genuine specimen of representative government and republican government; and that it will answer, in an eminent degree, all the beneficial purposes of society.
If the representatives of the people betray their constituents, there is then no recourse left but in the exertion of that original right of self-defense which is paramount to all positive forms of government.
It is evident from the state of the country, from the habits of the people, from the experience we have had on the point itself, that it is impracticable to raise any very considerable sums by direct taxation.
The Courts must declare the sense of the law; and if they should be disposed to exercise will instead of judgement; the consequences would be the substitution of their pleasure for that of the legislative body.
The law… dictated by God Himself is, of course, superior in obligation to any other. It is binding over all the globe, in all countries, and at all times. No human laws are of any validity if contrary to this.
The present Constitution is the standard to which we are to cling. Under its banners, bona fide must we combat our political foes – rejecting all changes but through the channel itself provides for amendments.
There may be in every government a few choice spirits, who may act from more worthy motives. One great error is that we suppose mankind more honest than they are. Our prevailing passions are ambition and interest.
Establish that a Government may decline a provision for its debts, though able to make it, and you overthrow all public morality, you unhinge all the principles that must preserve the limits of free constitutions.
War is a question, under our constitution, not of Executive, but of Legislative cognizance. It belongs to Congress to say whether the Nation shall of choice dismiss the olive branch and unfurl the banners of War.
In all very numerous assemblies, of whatever character composed, passion never fails to wrest the sceptre from reason. Had every Athenian citizen been a Socrates, every Athenian assembly would still have been a mob.
As to Taxes, they are evidently inseparable from Government. It is impossible without them to pay the debts of the nation, to protect it from foreign danger, or to secure individuals from lawless violence and rapine.
It may safely be received as an axiom in our political system, that the state governments will in all possible contingencies afford complete security against invasions of the public liberty by the national authority.
The people alone have an incontestable, unalienable, and indefeasible right to institute government and to reform, alter, or totally change the same when their protection, safety, prosperity, and happiness require it.
Has it not. . . invariably been found that momentary passions, and immediate interests, have a more active and imperious control over human conduct than general or remote considerations of policy, utility and justice?
The voice of the people has been said to be the voice of God; and, however generally this maxim has been quoted and believed, it is not true to fact. The people are turbulent and changing, they seldom judge or determine right.
To judge from the history of mankind, we shall be compelled to conclude, that the fiery and destructive passions of war, reign in the human breast, with much more powerful sway, than the mild and beneficent sentiments of peace.

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