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 HAMILTONIf the sword of oppression be permitted to lop off one limb without opposition, reiterated strokes will soon dismember the whole body.
More Alexander Hamilton Quotes
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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.
ALEXANDER HAMILTON -
The best we can hope for concerning the people at large is that they be properly armed.
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 -
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 -
Hard words are very rarely useful. Real firmness is good for every thing. Strut is good for nothing.
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 -
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 -
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 -
I have thought it my duty to exhibit things as they are, not as they ought to be.
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 -
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 honor of a nation is its life.
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There is a certain enthusiasm in liberty, that makes human nature rise above itself, in acts of bravery and heroism.
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 militia is a voluntary force not associated or under the control of the States except when called out; a permanent or long-standing force would be entirely different in make-up and call.
ALEXANDER HAMILTON