Real firmness is good for anything; strut is good for nothing.
—Alexander Hamilton
Topics: Control
I think the first duty of society is justice.
—Alexander Hamilton
Topics: Society, Duty
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.
—Alexander Hamilton
Topics: Humanity
In the main it will be found that a power over a mans support salary is a power over his will.
—Alexander Hamilton
Our great error is that we suppose mankind more honest than they are.
—Alexander Hamilton
Topics: Honesty
It is of the nature of war to increase the executive at the expense of the legislative authority.
—Alexander Hamilton
Topics: Presidency
A well-adjusted person is one who makes the same mistake twice without getting nervous.
—Alexander Hamilton
We must make the best of those ills which cannot be avoided.
—Alexander Hamilton
Topics: Acceptance
The system is the best that the present views and circumstances of the country will permit.
—Alexander Hamilton
Little more can reasonably be aimed at, with respect to the people at large, than to have them properly armed and equipped.
—Alexander Hamilton
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
The desire of reward is one of the strongest incentives of human conduct; … the best security for the fidelity of mankind is to make their interest coincide with their duty.
—Alexander Hamilton
Topics: Motivation
Here, sir, the people govern; here they act by their immediate representatives.
—Alexander Hamilton
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.
—Alexander Hamilton
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
Topics: Liberty
The history of human conduct does not warrant that exalted opinion of human virtue which would make it wise in a nation to commit interests of so delicate and momentous a kind as those which concern its intercourse with the rest of the world to the sole disposal of a magistrate, created and circumstanced, as would be a President of the United States.
—Alexander Hamilton
Such a wife as I want… must be young, handsome I lay most stress upon a good shape, sensible a little learning will do, well-bread, chaste, and tender. As to religion, a moderate stock will satisfy me. She must believe in God and hate a saint.
—Alexander Hamilton
Topics: Wives, Marriage
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.
—Alexander Hamilton
Those who stand for nothing fall for anything.
—Alexander Hamilton
Topics: Belief, Beliefs, Business
A national debt, if it is not excessive, will be to us a national blessing.
—Alexander Hamilton
Topics: Conceit, Nation, Vanity
Even to observe neutrality you must have a strong government.
—Alexander Hamilton
Topics: Government
Why has government been instituted at all? Because the passions of men will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice, without constraint.
—Alexander Hamilton
Topics: Government
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
Topics: Opposition
I never expect to see a perfect work from imperfect man.
—Alexander Hamilton
It is inherent in the nature of sovereignty not to be amenable to the suit of any individual without its consent. This is the general sense and the general practice of mankind; and the exemption, as one of the attributes of sovereignty, is now enjoyed by the government of every State in the Union… . The contracts between a nation and individuals are only binding on the conscience of the sovereign, and have no pretensions to a compulsory force. They confer no right of action, independent of the sovereign will. To…authorize suits against States for the debts they owe…could not be done without waging war against the contracting State…, a power which would involve such a consequence, would be altogether forced and unwarranted.
—Alexander Hamilton
Man is a reasoning, rather than a reasonable, animal.
—Alexander Hamilton
Topics: Man, Reason, Decisions
Power over a man’s subsistence amounts to power over his will.
—Alexander Hamilton
Topics: Power
It may be a reflection on human nature that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses of government. But what is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. 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.
—Alexander Hamilton
Topics: Government
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. I explore it in all its bearings. My mind becomes pervaded with it. Then the effort which I have made is what people are pleased to call the fruit of genius. It is the fruit of labor and thought.
—Alexander Hamilton
Topics: Strength, Labor, Genius
When occasions present themselves, in which the interests of the people are at variance with their inclinations, it is the duty of the persons whom they have appointed to be the guardians of those interests, to withstand the temporary delusion, in order to give them time and opportunity for more cool and sedate reflection.
—Alexander Hamilton
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- Grace Hopper American Mathematician
- Jane Addams American Social Reformer
- George Lucas American Filmmaker
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