Discover Alexander Hamilton famous and rare quotes. Share Alexander Hamilton quotations about liberty, constitution and human nature.
Alexander Hamilton Quotes: If you are looking for some words of wisdom from one of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America, then this collection of 105 of the best Alexander Hamilton quotes might be the perfect fit for you. Alexander Hamilton was the primary author of the Federalist Papers, and in this list, we bring you quotations that focus specifically on that topic, in addition to providing some additional insight regarding freedom, rights, and progress. As a result, make it a point to not miss out!
Did You Find Yourself Looking Up to Alexander Hamilton as a Role Model After Reading These Quotes? Alexander Hamilton was an orphan who was largely raised by himself and eventually became one of the most influential and important figures in American history. He established the fundamentals of the country’s financial system, which would later serve as the template for the contemporary financial system. We learn from his accounts that the way to greatness is to work hard and fight for a cause you believe in; this, too, paved the way for him to become one of George Washington’s indispensable aides during the American Revolutionary War. Do you think the ideas of Alexander Hamilton have influenced the financial systems of today? Which of these quotations did you find yourself relating to the most?
1. “A national debt, if it is not excessive, will be to us a national blessing.” — Alexander Hamilton
2. “All extremes are pernicious in various ways.” — Alexander Hamilton
3. “Experience is the oracle of truth; and where its responses are unequivocal, they ought to be conclusive and sacred.” — Alexander Hamilton
4. “There are men who, under any circumstances, will have the courage to do their duty at every hazard.” — Alexander Hamilton
5. “By a limited Constitution, I understand one which contains certain specified exceptions to the legislative authority; such, for instance, as that it shall pass no bills of attainder, no ‘ex post facto’ laws, and the like.” — Alexander Hamilton
6. “Is it not time to awake from the deceitful dream of a golden age, and to adopt as a practical maxim for the direction of our political conduct that we, as well as the other inhabitants of the globe, are yet remote from the happy empire of perfect wisdom and perfect virtue?” — Alexander Hamilton
7. “Opinion, whether well or ill-founded, is the governing principle of human affairs.” — Alexander Hamilton
Alexander Hamilton Quotes
8. “If the sword of oppression be permitted to lop off one limb without opposition, reiterated strokes will soon dismember the whole body.” — Alexander Hamilton
9. “This circumstance, if duly attended to, would furnish a lesson of moderation to those who are ever so much persuaded of their being in the right in any controversy.” — Alexander Hamilton
10. “Vigor of government is essential to the security of liberty.” — Alexander Hamilton
11. “The two great points of difference between a democracy and a republic are—first, the delegation of the government, in the latter, to a small number of citizens elected by the rest; secondly, the greater number of citizens, and greater sphere of country, over which the latter may be extended.” — Alexander Hamilton
12. “Am I, then, more of an American than those who drew their first breath on American ground?” — Alexander Hamilton
13. “The violent destruction of life and property incident to war and 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.” — Alexander Hamilton
14. “When avarice takes the lead in a state, it is commonly the forerunner of its fall.” — Alexander Hamilton
15. “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.” — Alexander Hamilton
16. “It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice, if the laws are so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood.” — Alexander Hamilton
17. “Liberty is to faction what air is to fire—an aliment without which it instantly expires.” — Alexander Hamilton
18. “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.” — Alexander Hamilton
19. “Men of factious tempers, of local prejudices, or of sinister designs, may, by intrigue, by corruption, or by other means, first obtain the suffrages, and then betray the interests, of the people.” — Alexander Hamilton
20. “The President of the United States would be liable to be impeached, tried, and, upon conviction of treason, bribery, or other high crimes or misdemeanors, removed from office; and would afterwards be liable to prosecution and punishment in the ordinary course of law.” — Alexander Hamilton
21. “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.” — Alexander Hamilton
22. “A nation which can prefer disgrace to danger is prepared for a master, and deserves one.” — Alexander Hamilton
23. “An army, so large as seriously to menace those liberties, could only be formed by progressive augmentations; which would suppose, not merely a temporary combination between the legislature and executive, but a continued conspiracy for a series of time.” — Alexander Hamilton
24. “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.” — Alexander Hamilton
25. “Ambition, avarice, personal animosity, party opposition, and many other motives not more laudable than these, are apt to operate as well upon those who support as those who oppose the right side of a question.” — Alexander Hamilton
26. “Why has the government been instituted at all? Because the passions of man will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice without constraint.” — Alexander Hamilton
27. “The masses are asses.” — Alexander Hamilton
28. “I have thought it my duty to exhibit things as they are, not as they ought to be.” — Alexander Hamilton
29. “History will teach us that the former has been found to be a much more certain road to the introduction of despotism than the latter, and that, 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
30. “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
31. “They formed it almost as soon as they had a political existence; not at a time when their habitations were in flames, when many of their citizens were bleeding, and when the progress of hostility and desolation left little room for those calm and mature inquiries and reflections which must ever precede the formation of a wise and well-balanced government for a free people.” — Alexander Hamilton
32. “Farewell—a long farewell to my greatness!” — Alexander Hamilton
33. “However anxiously we may wish that these complaints had no foundation, the evidence of known facts will not permit us to deny that they are in some degree true.” — Alexander Hamilton
34. “To be more safe, they at length become willing to run the risk of being less free.” — Alexander Hamilton
35. “The true test of a good government is its aptitude and tendency to produce a good administration.” — Alexander Hamilton
36. “For 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.” — Alexander Hamilton
37. “The hope of impunity is a strong incitement to sedition—the dread of punishment, a proportionally strong discouragement to it.” — Alexander Hamilton
38. “The pride of states, as well as of men, naturally disposes them to justify all their actions, and opposes their acknowledging, correcting, or repairing their errors and offenses.” — Alexander Hamilton
39. “I cannot make everybody else as rapid as myself.” — Alexander Hamilton
40. “The fate of an empire is, in many respects, the most interesting in the world.” — Alexander Hamilton
41. “The spirit of commerce has a tendency to soften the manners of men and to extinguish those inflammable humors which have so often kindled into wars.” — Alexander Hamilton
42. “It may perhaps be said that the power of preventing bad laws includes that of preventing good ones.” — Alexander Hamilton
43. “The constitution shall never be construed to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms.” — Alexander Hamilton
44. “The airy phantoms that flit before the distempered imaginations of some of its adversaries would quickly give place to the more substantial forms of dangers, real, certain, and formidable.” — Alexander Hamilton
45. “An avaricious man might be tempted to betray the interests of the state for the acquisition of wealth.” — Alexander Hamilton
46. “The faculties of the mind itself have never yet been distinguished and defined, with satisfactory precision, by all the efforts of the most acute and metaphysical philosophers.” — Alexander Hamilton
47. “These powers ought to exist without limitation, because it is impossible to foresee or define the extent and variety of national exigencies, or the correspondent extent and variety of the means which may be necessary to satisfy them.” — Alexander Hamilton
48. “Let him beware of an obstinate adherence to party; let him reflect that the object upon which he is to decide is not a particular interest of the community, but the very existence of the nation.” — Alexander Hamilton
49. “Divisions at home would invite dangers from abroad.” — Alexander Hamilton
50. “The authorities essential to the common defense are these—to raise armies, to build and equip fleets, to prescribe rules for the government of both, to direct their operations, and to provide for their support.” — Alexander Hamilton
51. “When a people or family so divide, it never fails to be against themselves.” — Alexander Hamilton
52. “Persons of this character will proceed to an examination of the plan submitted by the convention, not only without a disposition to find or to magnify faults, but will see the propriety of reflecting—that a faultless plan was not to be expected.” — Alexander Hamilton
53. “If men were angels, no government would be necessary.” — Alexander Hamilton
54. “Is it not the glory of the people of America that, whilst they have paid a decent regard to the opinions of former times and other nations, they have not suffered a blind veneration for antiquity, for custom, or for names, to overrule the suggestions of their own good sense, the knowledge of their own situation, and the lessons of their own experience?” — Alexander Hamilton
55. “A dangerous ambition more often lurks behind the specious mask of zeal for the rights of the people than under the forbidden appearance of zeal for the firmness and efficiency of government.” — Alexander Hamilton
56. “A strong body makes the mind strong. I advise the gun. While this gives moderate exercise to the body, it gives boldness, enterprise, and independence to the mind.” — Alexander Hamilton
57. “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 divinity itself, and can never be erased or obscured by mortal power.” — Alexander Hamilton
58. “There is a certain enthusiasm in liberty that makes human nature rise above itself—in acts of bravery and heroism.” — Alexander Hamilton
59. “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
60. “Men are rather reasoning than reasonable animals, for the most part governed by the impulse of passion.” — Alexander Hamilton
61. “To all general purposes, we have uniformly been one people—each individual citizen everywhere enjoying the same national rights, privileges, and protection.” — Alexander Hamilton
62. “Perspicuity, therefore, requires not only that the ideas should be distinctly formed, but that they should be expressed by words distinctly and exclusively appropriate to them.” — Alexander Hamilton
63. “Who talks most about freedom and equality? Is it not those who hold the bill of rights in one hand and a whip for affrighted slaves in the other?” — Alexander Hamilton
64. “‘Divide and rule,’ must be the motto of every nation that either hates or fears us.” — Alexander Hamilton
65. “When the sword is once drawn, the passions of men observe no bounds of moderation.” — Alexander Hamilton
66. “Happy will it be if our choice should be directed by a judicious estimate of our true interests, unperplexed and unbiased by considerations not connected with the public good. But this is a thing more ardently to be wished than seriously to be expected.” — Alexander Hamilton
67. “Owing its ratification to the law of a state, it has been contended that the same authority might repeal the law by which it was ratified.” — Alexander Hamilton
68. “The pains taken to preserve peace include a proportional responsibility that equal pains be taken to be prepared for war.” — Alexander Hamilton
69. “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.” — Alexander Hamilton
70. “A powerful, victorious ally is yet another name for master.” — Alexander Hamilton
71. “The complete independence of the courts of justice is peculiarly essential in a limited Constitution.” — Alexander Hamilton
72. “Those then, who resist a confirmation of public order, are the true artificers of monarchy—not that this is the intention of the generality of them.” — Alexander Hamilton
73. “The government ought to be clothed with all the powers requisite to complete execution of its trust.” — Alexander Hamilton
74. “No man is allowed to be a judge in his own cause, because his interest would certainly bias his judgment, and not improbably, corrupt his integrity.” — Alexander Hamilton
75. “Caution and investigation are necessary armors against error and imposition.” — Alexander Hamilton
76. “It is the nature of war to increase the executive at the expense of the legislative authority.” — Alexander Hamilton
77. “Power controlled or abridged is almost always the rival and enemy of that power by which it is controlled or abridged.” — Alexander Hamilton
78. “The kindred blood which flows in the veins of American citizens, the mingled blood which they have shed in defense of their sacred rights, consecrate their Union, and excite horror at the idea of their becoming aliens, rivals, enemies.” — Alexander Hamilton
79. “Every man is bound to answer these questions to himself, according to the best of his conscience and understanding, and to act agreeably to the genuine and sober dictates of his judgment.” — Alexander Hamilton
80. “The fabric of American Empire ought to rest on the solid basis of the consent of the people.” — Alexander Hamilton
81. “I am aware that a man of real merit is never seen in so favorable a light as seen through the medium of adversity.” — Alexander Hamilton
82. “Happy it is when the interest which the government has in the preservation of its own power, coincides with a proper distribution of the public burdens, and tends to guard the least wealthy part of the community from oppression!” — Alexander Hamilton
83. “Schemes to subvert the liberties of a great community require time to mature them for execution.” — Alexander Hamilton
84. “Here, sir, the people govern; here they act by their immediate representatives.” — Alexander Hamilton
85. “To watch the progress of such endeavors is the office of a free press.” — Alexander Hamilton
86. “There are approximately 1,010,words in the English language, but I could never string enough words together to properly express how much I want to hit you with a chair.” — Alexander Hamilton
87. “As riches increase and accumulate in few hands; as luxury prevails in society; virtue will be in a greater degree considered as only a graceful appendage of wealth, and the tendency of things will depart from the republican standard.” — Alexander Hamilton
88. “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
89. “Cold in my professions; warm in my friendships. I wish, my dear Laurens, it might be in my power, by action rather than words, to convince you that I love you.” — Alexander Hamilton
90. “Seditions and insurrections are, unhappily, maladies as inseparable from the body politic as tumors and eruptions from the natural body.” — Alexander Hamilton
91. “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.” — Alexander Hamilton
92. “The best we can hope for concerning the people at large is that they be properly armed.” — Alexander Hamilton
93. “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.” — Alexander Hamilton
94. “Love is a sort of insanity.” — Alexander Hamilton
95. “The truth unquestionably is, that the only path to a subversion of the republican system of the country is, by flattering the prejudices of the people, and exciting their jealousies and apprehensions, to throw affairs into confusion, and bring on civil commotion.” — Alexander Hamilton
96. “Limitations of this kind can be preserved in practice no other way than through the medium of courts of justice, whose duty it must be to declare all acts contrary to the manifest tenor of the Constitution void.” — Alexander Hamilton
97. “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.” — Alexander Hamilton
98. “To judge from the conduct of the opposite parties, we shall be led to conclude that they will mutually hope to evince the justness of their opinions, and to increase the number of their converts by the loudness of their declamations and the bitterness of their invectives.” — Alexander Hamilton
99. “A well-adjusted person is one who makes the same mistake twice without getting nervous.” — Alexander Hamilton
100. “The art of reading is to skip judiciously.” — Alexander Hamilton
101. “Those who stand for nothing fall for everything.” — Alexander Hamilton
102. “Nothing is more certain than the indispensable necessity of government, and it is equally undeniable that whenever and however it is instituted, the people must cede to it some of their natural rights in order to vest it with requisite powers.” — Alexander Hamilton
103. “Necessity, especially in politics, often occasions false hopes, false reasonings, and a system of measures correspondingly erroneous.” — Alexander Hamilton
104. “No partial motive, no particular interest, no pride of opinion, no temporary passion or prejudice, will justify to himself, to his country, or to his posterity, an improper election of the part he is to act.” — Alexander Hamilton
105. “But the most common and durable source of factions has been the various and unequal distribution of property.” — Alexander Hamilton
