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Alexander Hamilton Quotes - Page 3

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

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

Alexander Hamilton
Duty, Ought, Exhibits
Alexander Hamilton (1850). “Correspondence. 1769-1789”, p.294

We must make the best of those ills which cannot be avoided.

Alexander Hamilton
Adversity, Adaptation, Adaptability
"The Home Book of Quotations, Classical and Modern". Book by Burton Egbert Stevenson, 1958.

Great Ambition, unchecked by principle, or the love of Glory, is an unruly Tyrant.

Alexander Hamilton
Ambition, Tyrants, Principles
Alexander Hamilton (1850). “The Works of Alexander Hamilton: Correspondence [contin.] 1795-1804; 1777; 1791. Letters of H. G. 1789. Address to public creditors. 1790. Vindication of funding system. 1791”, p.423

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

Alexander Hamilton
People, Judging, Decision

Now, mark my words. So long as we are a young and virtuous people, this instument will bind us together in mutual interests, mutual welfare, and mutual happiness. But when we become old and corrupt, it will bind no longer.

Alexander Hamilton
Mutual Interest, Long, People

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
Kings, Law, Punishment
Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay (2007). “The Federalist Papers”, p.524, Filiquarian Publishing, LLC.

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

Alexander Hamilton
Passion, Men, Moderation
Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, Quentin P. Taylor, John Jay (1998). “The Essential Federalist: A New Reading of the Federalist Papers”, p.168, Rowman & Littlefield

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

Alexander Hamilton
Sheep, Revolution, Ass
Alexander Hamilton, Donald R. Hickey, Connie D. Clark (2006). “Citizen Hamilton: The Wit and Wisdom of an American Founder”, p.58, Rowman & Littlefield

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

Alexander Hamilton
Foreign Policy, Policy, Ought
Alexander Hamilton, John Church Hamilton (1851). “The Works of Alexander Hamilton: Cabinet papers. 1789-1794”, p.366

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

Alexander Hamilton
Party, Political, Spirit
Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay (2014). “The Federalist Papers”, p.4, Courier Corporation

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.

Alexander Hamilton
Men, Careers, Tyrants
Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay (2015). “The Federalist Papers: A Collection of Essays Written in Favour of the New Constitution”, p.10, Coventry House Publishing

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
Art, Passion, Men
Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay (2016). “The Federalist Papers and the Constitution of the United States: The Principles of the American Government”, p.383, Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

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

Alexander Hamilton
Character, Land, Individual

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.

Alexander Hamilton
4th Of July, Diversity, Constitution

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.

Alexander Hamilton
Strong, Rights, Government
Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay (1865). “The Federalist: A Commentary on the Constitution of the United States”, p.131

[S]ound policy condemns the practice of accumulating debts.

Alexander Hamilton
Practice, Debt, Policy
Alexander Hamilton (1850). “Miscellanies, 1774-1789: A full vindication; The farmer refuted; Quebec bill; Resolutions in Congress; Letters from Phocion; New-York Legislature, etc”, p.458

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.

Alexander Hamilton
Government, Taxation, Debt
Alexander Hamilton (1851). “Political essays [etc., 1792-1804] Contents. Index”, p.737

Self-preservation is the first principle of our nature.

Alexander Hamilton
Self, Survival, Principles
Alexander Hamilton, John Church Hamilton (1850). “The Works of Alexander Hamilton: Miscellanies, 1774-1789: A full vindication; The farmer refuted; Quebec bill; Resolutions in Congress; Letters from Phocion; New-York Legislature, etc”, p.7

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
Evil, Inability, United States
"The Works of Alexander Hamilton".

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

Alexander Hamilton
Taken, Affection, Stealing
Alexander Hamilton (1842). “The Official and Other Papers of the Late Major-General Alexander Hamilton: Comp. Chiefly from the Originals in the Possession of Mrs. Hamilton ...”, p.331

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
Running, Powerful, War
Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay (2015). “The Federalist Papers: A Collection of Essays Written in Favour of the New Constitution”, p.38, Coventry House Publishing

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.

Alexander Hamilton
Government, Law, Two
Alexander Hamilton (1851). “The Works of Alexander Hamilton: Comprising His Correspondence, and His Political and Official Writings, Exclusive of the Federalist, Civil and Military. Published from the Original Manuscripts Deposited in the Department of State, by Order of the Joint Library Committee of Congress”, p.164

To watch the progress of such endeavors is the office of a free press. To give us early alarm and put us on our guard against encroachments of power. This then is a right of utmost importance, one for which, instead of yielding it up, we ought rather to spill our blood.

Alexander Hamilton
Blood, Office, Giving
Alexander Hamilton, Julius Goebel, Joseph Henry Smith (1969). “The Law Practice of Alexander Hamilton: Documents and Commentary”, p.831, Columbia University Press

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

Alexander Hamilton
Rights, Citizens, Usurpers

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

Alexander Hamilton
Long, Opinion, I Have Learned
Alexander Hamilton (1851). “The Works of Alexander Hamilton: Cabinet papers [contin.] 1794-1795. [Miscellanies, 1794-1795] Military papers. 1798-1800. Correspondence [contin.] 1789-1795”, p.52

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