Top 398 Quotes & Sayings by Alexander Hamilton
Explore popular quotes and sayings by an American politician Alexander Hamilton.
Last updated on April 14, 2025.
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.
A national debt, if it is not excessive, will be to us a national blessing.
I think the first duty of society is justice.
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 or obscured by mortal power.
Men are rather reasoning than reasonable animals, for the most part governed by the impulse of passion.
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.
It's not tyranny we desire; it's a just, limited, federal government.
When the sword is once drawn, the passions of men observe no bounds of moderation.
Why has government been instituted at all? Because the passions of man will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice without constraint.
I never expect to see a perfect work from an imperfect man.
To all general purposes we have uniformly been one people, each individual citizen everywhere enjoying the same national rights, privileges, and protection.
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.
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.
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.
Here, sir, the people govern; here they act by their immediate representatives.
Why has government been instituted at all? Because the passions of men will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice, without constraint.
The honor of a nation is its life.
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.
Power over a man's subsistence is power over his will.
You should not have taken advantage of my sensibility to steal into my affections without my consent.
Real firmness is good for anything; strut is good for nothing.
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.
Even to observe neutrality you must have a strong government.
Unless your government is respectable, foreigners will invade your rights; and to maintain tranquillity, it must be respectable - even to observe neutrality, you must have a strong government.
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.
Learn to think continentally.
The nation which can prefer disgrace to danger is prepared for a master and deserves one.
A well adjusted person is one who makes the same mistake twice without getting nervous.
Real liberty is neither found in despotism or the extremes of democracy, but in moderate governments.
There is a certain enthusiasm in liberty, that makes human nature rise above itself, in acts of bravery and heroism.
It is the advertiser who provides the paper for the subscriber. It is not to be disputed, that the publisher of a newspaper in this country, without a very exhaustive advertising support, would receive less reward for his labor than the humblest mechanic.
Nobody expects to trust his body overmuch after the age of fifty.
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.
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.
A promise must never be broken.
In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place, oblige it to control itself.
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.
Remember civil and religious liberty always go together: if the foundation of the one be sapped, the other will fall of course.
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.
People sometimes attribute my success to my genius; all the genius I know anything about is hard work.
The best we can hope for concerning the people at large is that they be properly armed.
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.
We are now forming a republican government. Real liberty is never found in despotism or the extremes of democracy, but in moderate governments.
No character, however upright, is a match for constantly reiterated attacks, however false.
Foreign influence is truly the Grecian horse to a republic. We cannot be too careful to exclude its influence.
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.
A nation which can prefer disgrace to danger is prepared for a master, and deserves one.
Give all the power to the many, they will oppress the few. Give all the power to the few, they will oppress the many.
The people are turbulent and changing; they seldom judge right or make good decision.
[H]owever weak our country may be, I hope we shall never sacrifice our liberties.
The natural cure for an ill-administration, in a popular or representative constitution, is a change of men.
As riches increase and accumulate in few hands . . . the tendency of things will be to depart from the republican standard.
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.
Man is either governed by his own laws - freedom - or the laws of another - slavery. Are you willing to become slaves? Will you give up your freedom, your life and your property without a single struggle? No man has a right to rule over his fellow creatures.
One great error is that we suppose mankind more honest than they are.
A sacred respect for the constitutional law is the vital principle, the sustaining energy of a free government.
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.
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.
A feeble executive implies a feeble execution of the government. A feeble execution is but another phrase for a bad execution; and a government ill executed, whatever may be its theory, must be, in practice, a bad government.
What is the most sacred duty and the greatest source of our security in a Republic? An inviolable respect for the Constitution and Laws.
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