Alexander Hamilton Quotes

A promise must never be broken.

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.

Take mankind as they are, and what are they governed by? Their passions.

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

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

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

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

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

It is of the nature of war to increase the executive at the expense of the legislative authority.

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.

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.

I never expect to see a perfect work from an imperfect man.

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

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

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

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

Man is a reasoning rather than a reasonable animal.

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

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

The genius of the people will ill brook the inquisitive and peremptory spirit of excise laws.

[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.

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.

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.

Opinion, whether well or ill-founded, is the governing principle of human affairs

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.

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.

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

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

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

To presume a want of motives for such contests . . . would be to forget that men are ambitious, vindictive, and rapacious.

[T]hough 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 . . .

Self-preservation is the first principle of our nature.

No man in his senses can hesitate in choosing to be free, rather than a slave.

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

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

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.

There is one transcendant advantage belonging to the province of the State governments . . . -I mean the ordinary administration of criminal and civil justice.

Even to observe neutrality you must have a strong government.

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.

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.

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.

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.

In the general course of human nature, A power over a man's subsistence amounts to a power over his will.

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.

Little more can reasonably be aimed at with respect to the people at large than to have them properly armed.

The civil jury is a valuable safeguard to liberty.

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

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

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

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.