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Alexander Hamilton Quotes

American general, Birth: 11-1-1755, Death: 12-7-1804 Alexander Hamilton Quotes
1.
People sometimes attribute my success to my genius; all the genius I know anything about is hard work.
Alexander Hamilton

People sometimes credit my accomplishments to my intelligence; all the cleverness I understand is diligence.
2.
Give all the power to the many, they will oppress the few. Give all the power to the few, they will oppress the many.
Alexander Hamilton

Entrust all authority to the multitude, and they shall subjugate the minority. Entrust all authority to the elite, and they shall subjugate the masses.
3.
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 — to fight the government.
Alexander Hamilton

When a government disregards the populace by accruing too much authority and becoming oppressive, the people have no recourse but to utilize their inherent right of self-preservation -- to oppose the government.
4.
One great error is that we suppose mankind more honest than they are.
Alexander Hamilton

One great misconception is that we overestimate the honesty of people.
5.
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.
Alexander Hamilton

Similar Authors: William James George Washington Dwight D. Eisenhower Colin Powell George S. Patton Douglas MacArthur Robert E. Lee Andrew Jackson Rutherford B. Hayes Charles de Gaulle Barry Goldwater James A. Garfield Ulysses S. Grant Albert Pike Nikita Khrushchev
6.
Men give me credit for some genius. All the genius I have lies in this; when I have a subject in hand, I study it profoundly. Day and night it is before me. My mind becomes pervaded with it. Then the effort that I have made is what people are pleased to call the fruit of genius. It is the fruit of labor and thought.
Alexander Hamilton

7.
There is a certain enthusiasm in liberty, that makes human nature rise above itself, in acts of bravery and heroism.
Alexander Hamilton

A certain fervor in freedom that incites human nature to transcend its limits, manifesting itself in acts of courage and valor.
8.
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.
Alexander Hamilton

People frequently reject an idea simply because they were not involved in devising it or because it was formulated by persons they do not care for.
Quote Topics by Alexander Hamilton: Government Men People Law Rights Liberty Political War Passion Country Mean Character Principles Giving Human Nature May Constitution Exercise Justice Hands Mind Long Practice Community Ambition Party Sacrifice Essentials United States Powerful
9.
A nation which can prefer disgrace to danger is prepared for a master, and deserves one.
Alexander Hamilton

A people who are willing to accept humiliation rather than risk adversity is ripe for domination and merits a ruler.
10.
Foreign influence is truly the Grecian horse to a republic. We cannot be too careful to exclude its influence.
Alexander Hamilton

Overseas impact is truly the Trojan horse to a nation. We must be vigilant to prevent its infiltration.
11.
To my utter astonishment I saw an airship descending over my cow lot. It was occupied by six of the strangest beings I ever saw. They were jabbering together, but we could not understand a word they said.
Alexander Hamilton

12.
It's not tyranny we desire; it's a just, limited, federal government.
Alexander Hamilton

We yearn not for autocracy, but a judicious, circumscribed, national government.
13.
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.
Alexander Hamilton

At certain times in every nation, boisterousness and arrogance are accepted as valuable; specifically during episodes of popular unrest, the outcries of partisan and self-seeking individuals are often misconstrued as loyalty.
14.
The best we can hope for concerning the people at large is that they be properly armed.
Alexander Hamilton

We should wish that the citizenry be adequately equipped with arms.
15.
A well adjusted person is one who makes the same mistake twice without getting nervous.
Alexander Hamilton

A well balanced individual is one who commits the same blunder twice without becoming agitated.
16.
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.
Alexander Hamilton

This selection procedure guarantees a moral guarantee that the position of President will rarely be assumed by someone who is not highly qualified.
17.
[H]owever weak our country may be, I hope we shall never sacrifice our liberties.
Alexander Hamilton

No matter how feeble our nation may be, I pray we will never forfeit our freedoms.
18.
I have carefully examined the evidences of the Christian religion, and if I was sitting as a juror upon its authenticity I would unhesitatingly give my verdict in its favor. I can prove its truth as clearly as any proposition ever submitted to the mind of man.
Alexander Hamilton

19.
A sacred respect for the constitutional law is the vital principle, the sustaining energy of a free government.
Alexander Hamilton

20.
Ambition without principle never was long under the guidance of good sense.
Alexander Hamilton

Drive without morality never lasted long guided by wisdom.
21.
The republican principle demands that the deliberate sense of the community should govern the conduct of those to whom they intrust the management of their affairs; but it does not require an unqualified complaisance to every sudden breeze of passion or to every transient impulse which the people may receive from the arts of men, who flatter their prejudices to betray their interests.
Alexander Hamilton

22.
Our countrymen have all the folly of the ass and all the passiveness of the sheep.
Alexander Hamilton

Our compatriots possess all the foolishness of the donkey and all the docility of the lamb.
23.
I would die to preserve the law upon a solid foundation; but take away liberty, and the foundation is destroyed.
Alexander Hamilton

I would sacrifice my life to uphold the law upon a firm basis; but remove freedom, and the foundation is ruined.
24.
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.
Alexander Hamilton

It is the Media which has undermined our political values - and it is to the Media we must turn for the solutions of our political revival.
25.
Remember civil and religious liberty always go together: if the foundation of the one be sapped, the other will fall of course.
Alexander Hamilton

Commemorate the inextricable link between civil and religious freedom; should one be undermined, the other will inevitably crumble.
26.
Learn to think continentally.
Alexander Hamilton

Develop a global perspective.
27.
It has been observed that a pure democracy if it were practicable would be the most perfect government. Experience has proved that no position is more false than this. The ancient democracies in which the people themselves deliberated never possessed one good feature of government. Their very character was tyranny; their figure deformity.
Alexander Hamilton

28.
The honor of a nation is its life. Deliberately to abandon it is to commit an act of political suicide.
Alexander Hamilton

The prestige of a nation is its existence. Willingly to renounce it is to perpetrate an act of political annihilation.
29.
The sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for among old parchments or musty records. They are written, as with a sunbeam, in the whole volume of human nature, by the hand of the divinity itself; and can never be erased.
Alexander Hamilton

30.
The people are turbulent and changing; they seldom judge right or make good decision.
Alexander Hamilton

The populace is restless and fickle; they often make unwise selections.
31.
If it were to be asked, What is the most sacred duty and the greatest source of our security in a Republic? The answer would be, An inviolable respect for the Constitution and Laws - the first growing out of the last . . . . A sacred respect for the constitutional law is the vital principle, the sustaining energy of a free government.
Alexander Hamilton

32.
We are now forming a republican government. Real liberty is never found in despotism or the extremes of democracy, but in moderate governments.
Alexander Hamilton

33.
The natural cure for an ill-administration, in a popular or representative constitution, is a change of men.
Alexander Hamilton

34.
As riches increase and accumulate in few hands . . . the tendency of things will be to depart from the republican standard.
Alexander Hamilton

35.
When the sword is once drawn, the passions of men observe no bounds of moderation.
Alexander Hamilton

36.
Every nation ought to have a right to provide for its own happiness.
Alexander Hamilton

37.
This balance between the National and State governments ought to be dwelt on with peculiar attention, as it is of the utmost importance. It forms a double security to the people. If one encroaches on their rights they will find a powerful protection in the other. Indeed, they will both be prevented from overpassing their constitutional limits by a certain rivalship, which will ever subsist between them.
Alexander Hamilton

38.
No character, however upright, is a match for constantly reiterated attacks, however false.
Alexander Hamilton

39.
Hard words are very rarely useful. Real firmness is good for every thing. Strut is good for nothing.
Alexander Hamilton

40.
I have thought it my duty to exhibit things as they are, not as they ought to be.
Alexander Hamilton

41.
. . . [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.
Alexander Hamilton

42.
Safety from external danger is the most powerful director of national conduct. Even the ardent love of liberty will, after a time, give way to its dictates. The violent destruction of life and property incident to war, the continual effort and alarm attendant on a state of continual danger, will compel nations the most attached to liberty to resort for repose and security to institutions which have a tendency to destroy their civil and political rights. To be more safe, they at length become willing to run the risk of being less free.
Alexander Hamilton

43.
Nothing could be more ill-judged than that intolerant spirit which has, at all times, characterized political parties.
Alexander Hamilton

44.
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.
Alexander Hamilton

45.
The President of the United States would be liable to be impeached, tried, and upon conviction of treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors, removed from office; and would afterwards be liable to prosecution and punishment in the ordinary course of law. The person of the King of Great Britain is sacred and inviolable: There is no constitutional tribunal to which he is amenable, no punishment to which he can be subjected without involving the crisis of a national revolution.
Alexander Hamilton

46.
The love for our native land strengthens our individual and national character.
Alexander Hamilton

47.
Perhaps myself the first, at some expense of popularity, to unfold the true character of Jefferson, it is too late for me to become his apologist. Nor can I have any disposition to do it. I admit that his politics are tinctured with fanaticism, that he is too much in earnest in his democracy, that he has been a mischievous enemy to the principle measures of our past administration, that he is crafty & persevering in his objects, that he is not scrupulous about the means of success, nor very mindful of truth, and that he is a contemptible hypocrite.
Alexander Hamilton

48.
A national debt if it is not excessive will be to us a national blessing; it will be powerfull cement of our union. It will also create a necessity for keeping up taxation to a degree which without being oppressive, will be a spur to industry.
Alexander Hamilton

49.
A fondness for power is implanted in most men, and it is natural to abuse it when acquired.
Alexander Hamilton

50.
It is of the greatest consequence that the debt should, with the consent of the creditors, be remoulded into such a shape as will bring the expenditure of the nation to a level with its income. Till this shall be accomplished, the finances of the United States will never wear a proper countenance. Arrears of interest, continually accruing, will be as continual a monument, either of inability, or of ill faith and will not cease to have an evil influence on public credit.
Alexander Hamilton