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 HAMILTONA tolerable expertness in military movements is a business that requires time and practice. It is not a day, or even a week, that will suffice for the attainment of it.
More Alexander Hamilton Quotes
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Caution and investigation are a necessary armor against error and imposition.
ALEXANDER HAMILTON -
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 -
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 -
The rights of neutrality will only be respected, when they are defended by an adequate power. A nation, despicable by its weakness, forfeits even the privilege of being neutral.
ALEXANDER HAMILTON -
When the sword is once drawn, the passions of men observe no bounds of moderation.
ALEXANDER HAMILTON -
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 -
A well adjusted person is one who makes the same mistake twice without getting nervous.
ALEXANDER HAMILTON -
The art of reading is to skip judiciously.
ALEXANDER HAMILTON -
An enlightened zeal for the energy and efficiency of government will be stigmatized, as the offspring of a temper fond of despotic power, and hostile to the principles of liberty.
ALEXANDER HAMILTON -
We must make the best of those ills which cannot be avoided.
ALEXANDER HAMILTON -
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 -
Have we not already seen enough of the fallacy and extravagance of those idle theories which have amused us with promises of an exemption from the imperfections, weaknesses and evils incident to society in every shape?
ALEXANDER HAMILTON -
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.
ALEXANDER HAMILTON -
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 -
I always feel how necessary you are to me. But when you are absent, I become still more sensible of it and look around in vain for that satisfaction which you alone can bestow.
ALEXANDER HAMILTON