The passions of a revolution are apt to hurry even good men into excesses.
ALEXANDER HAMILTONHappy 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.
More Alexander Hamilton Quotes
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Why has government been instituted at all? Because the passions of man will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice without constraint.
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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 burthens, and tends to guard the least wealthy part of the community from oppression!
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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.
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The pains taken to preserve peace include a proportional responsibility that equal pains be taken to be prepared for war.
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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.
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The art of reading is to skip judiciously.
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We must make the best of those ills which cannot be avoided.
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I have thought it my duty to exhibit things as they are, not as they ought to be.
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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.
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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.
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Safety from external danger is the most powerful director of national conduct.
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There are approximately 1,010,300 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, to Thomas Jefferson)
ALEXANDER HAMILTON -
Why has government been instituted at all? Because the passions of man will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice without constraint.
ALEXANDER HAMILTON -
Men are reasoning rather than reasonable animals.
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Hard words are very rarely useful. Real firmness is good for every thing. Strut is good for nothing.
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Nature of war to increase the executive at the expense of the legislative authority.
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I never expect a perfect work from an imperfect man.
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The very aim and intention of the democratical part, or the house of commons, is to secure the rights of the people. It’s very being depends upon those rights. Its whole power is derived from them, and must be terminated by them.
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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.
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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.
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The 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.
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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.
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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.
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The best we can hope for concerning the people at large is that they be properly armed.
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Caution and investigation are a necessary armor against error and imposition.
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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