Alexander Hamilton was an American statesman, politician, legal scholar, military commander, lawyer, banker and economist. He was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He was a key figure in the ratification of the US constitution and a prolific writer in its defence. Timeless Alexander Hamilton’s most well-known quotes will broaden your views about life, humanity, the government, and many more.
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Most Famous Alexander Hamilton Quotes
The constitution shall never be construed…to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms. – Alexander Hamilton
A national debt, if it is not excessive, will be to us a national blessing. It will be a powerful cement of our Union. – Alexander Hamilton
Sound policy condemns the practice of accumulating debts. – Alexander Hamilton
People sometimes attribute my success to my genius; all the genius I know anything about is hard work. – 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
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
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. – 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
Even to observe neutrality you must have a strong government. – Alexander Hamilton
Power over a man’s subsistence is power over his will. – 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 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
When the sword is once drawn, the passions of men observe no bounds of moderation. – Alexander Hamilton
Man is a reasoning rather than a reasonable animal. – Alexander Hamilton
In the general course of human nature, a power over a man’s subsistence amounts to a power over his will. – Alexander Hamilton
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 exhaustive advertising support, would receive less reward for his labor than the humblest mechanic. – Alexander Hamilton
Nobody expects to trust his body overmuch after the age of fifty. – Alexander Hamilton
Learn to think continentally. – Alexander Hamilton
There is a certain enthusiasm in liberty, that makes human nature rise above itself, in acts of bravery and heroism. – Alexander Hamilton
I think the first duty of society is justice. – Alexander Hamilton
Real firmness is good for anything; strut is good for nothing. – Alexander Hamilton
I never expect to see a perfect work from an imperfect man. – Alexander Hamilton
You should not have taken advantage of my sensibility to steal into my affections without my consent. – Alexander Hamilton
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
A person is one who makes the same mistake twice without getting nervous. – Alexander Hamilton
In the main, it will be found that a power over a man’s support (salary) is a power over his will. – Alexander Hamilton
A promise must never be broken. – 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
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. – Alexander Hamilton
Give all the power to the many, they will oppress the few. Give all the power to the few, they will oppress the many. – Alexander Hamilton
One great error is that we suppose mankind more honest than they are. – Alexander Hamilton
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. – Alexander Hamilton
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. – Alexander Hamilton
A sacred respect for the constitutional law is the vital principle, the sustaining energy of a free government. – Alexander Hamilton
Foreign influence is truly the Grecian horse to a republic. We cannot be too careful to exclude its influence. – Alexander Hamilton
A nation which can prefer disgrace to danger is prepared for a master and deserves one. – Alexander Hamilton
To watch the progress of such endeavors is the office of a free press. To give us early alarm and put us on our guard against encroachments of power. This then is a right of utmost importance, one for which, instead of yielding it up, we ought rather to spill our blood. – 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
A well adjusted person is one who makes the same mistake twice without getting nervous. – Alexander Hamilton
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. – Alexander Hamilton
Every nation ought to have a right to provide for its own happiness. – Alexander Hamilton
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. – Alexander Hamilton
It’s not tyranny we desire; it’s a just, limited, federal government. – Alexander Hamilton
We are attempting, by this Constitution, to abolish factions, and to unite all parties for the general welfare. – Alexander Hamilton
[H]owever weak our country may be, I hope we shall never sacrifice our liberties. – Alexander Hamilton
Experience teaches, that men are often so much governed by what they are accustomed to see and practice, that the simplest and most obvious improvements . . . are adopted with hesitation, reluctance, and slow gradations. – Alexander Hamilton
Every individual of the community at large has an equal right to the protection of government. – Alexander Hamilton
I have carefully examined the evidences of the Christian religion, and if I was sitting as a juror upon its authenticity I would unhesitatingly give my verdict in its favor. I can prove its truth as clearly as any proposition ever submitted to the mind of man. – Alexander Hamilton
Hard words are very rarely useful. Real firmness is good for every thing. Strut is good for nothing. – Alexander Hamilton
Ambition without principle never was long under the guidance of good sense. – Alexander Hamilton
Persuaded as the Secretary is, that the proper funding of the present debt, will render it a national blessing: Yet he is so far from acceding to the position, in the latitude in which it is sometimes laid down, that public debts are public benefits, a position inviting to prodigality, and liable to dangerous abuse,—that he ardently wishes to see it incorporated, as a fundamental maxim, in the system of public credit of the United States, that the creation of debt should always be accompanied with the means of extinguishment. This he regards as the true secret for rendering public credit immortal. – Alexander Hamilton
This reflection derives additional strength from the nature of the debt of the United States. It was the price of liberty. The faith of America has been repeatedly pledged for it, and with solemnities, that give peculiar force to the obligation [of paying off the debt]. – Alexander Hamilton
And as the vicissitudes of Nations beget a perpetual tendency to the accumulation of debt, there ought to be in every government a perpetual, anxious and unceasing effort to reduce that, which at any time exists, as fast as shall be practicable consistently with integrity and good faith. – Alexander Hamilton
States, like individuals, who observe their engagements [pay off their debts], are respected and trusted: while the reverse is the fate of those, who pursue an opposite conduct. – Alexander Hamilton
And as, on the one hand, the necessity for borrowing in particular emergencies cannot be doubted, so, on the other, it is equally evident that, to be able to borrow upon good terms, it is essential that the credit of a nation should be well established. – Alexander Hamilton
Nothing can more interest the National Credit and prosperity, than a constant and systematic attention to husband [manage prudently] all the means previously possessed for extinguishing the present debt, and to avoid, as much as possible, the incurring of any new debt. – Alexander Hamilton
In framing a government for posterity as well as ourselves, we ought, in those provisions which are designed to be permanent, to calculate, not on temporary, but on permanent causes of expense – Alexander Hamilton
CREDIT supposes specific and permanent funds for the punctual payment of interest, with a moral certainty of a final redemption of the principal. – Alexander Hamilton
Establish that a Government may decline a provision for its debts, though able to make it, and you overthrow all public morality, you unhinge all the principles that must preserve the limits of free constitutions. – Alexander Hamilton
There can be no time, no state of things, in which Credit is not essential to a Nation… – Alexander Hamilton
…[It is] of the greatest consequence that the debt should, with the consent of the creditors, be remoulded into such a shape as will bring the expenditure of the nation to a level with its income. Till this shall be accomplished the finances of the United States will never wear a proper countenance. Arrears of interest, continually accruing, will be as continual a monument, either of inability or of ill faith, and will not cease to have an evil influence on public credit. – Alexander Hamilton
But though a funded debt is not in the first instance, an absolute increase of Capital, or an augmentation of real wealth; yet by serving as a New power in the operation of industry, it has within certain bounds a tendency to increase the real wealth of a Community, in like manner as money borrowed by a thrifty farmer, to be laid out in the improvement of his farm may, in the end, add to his Stock of real riches. – Alexander Hamilton
Neither will it follow, that an accumulation of debt is desireable, because a certain degree of it operates as capital. There may be a plethora in the political, as in the Natural body; There may be a state of things in which any such artificial capital is unnecessary. The debt too may be swelled to such a size, as that the greatest part of it may cease to be useful as a Capital, serving only to pamper the dissipation of idle and dissolute individuals: as that the sums required to pay the Interest upon it may become oppressive, and beyond the means, which a government can employ, consistently with its tranquility, to raise them, as that the resources of taxation, to face the debt, may have been strained too far to admit of extensions adequate to exigencies, which regard the public safety. – Alexander Hamilton
There are respectable individuals, who from a just aversion to an accumulation of Public debt, are unwilling to concede to it any kind of utility, who can discern no good to alleviate the ill with which they suppose it pregnant; who cannot be persuaded that it ought in any sense to be viewed as an increase of capital lest it should be inferred, that the more debt the more capital, the greater the burthens the greater the blessings of the community. – Alexander Hamilton
The art of reading is to skip judiciously. – Alexander Hamilton
Those who stand for nothing fall for everything. – 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
A powerful, victorious ally is yet another name for master. – Alexander Hamilton
To all general purposes we have uniformly been one people each individual citizen everywhere enjoying the same national rights, privileges, and protection. – Alexander Hamilton
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. – Alexander Hamilton
Vigor of government is essential to the security of liberty. – Alexander Hamilton
The best we can hope for concerning the people at large is that they be properly armed. – Alexander Hamilton
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. – Alexander Hamilton
For 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. – Alexander Hamilton
Divide et impera must be the motto of every nation that either hates or fears us. – Alexander Hamilton
If we must have an enemy at the head of government, let it be one whom we can oppose, and for whom we are not responsible. – Alexander Hamilton
It will be of little avail to the people, that the laws are made by men of their own choice, if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood; – Alexander Hamilton
All communities divide themselves into the few and the many. the first are the rich and well-born, the other the mass of the people. – Alexander Hamilton
I have thought it my duty to exhibit things as they are, not as they ought to be. – Alexander Hamilton
Of those men who have overturned the liberties of republics the greatest number have begun their career, by paying an obsequious court to the people; commencing Demagogues and ending Tyrants. – Alexander Hamilton
Dangerous ambition more often lurks behind the specious mask of zeal for the rights of the people than under the forbidden appearance of zeal for the firmness and efficiency of government. – Alexander Hamilton
But this is a thing more ardently to be wished than seriously to be expected. – 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
Nature of war to increase the executive at the expense of the legislative authority. – Alexander Hamilton
Experience is the oracle of truth; and where its responses are unequivocal, they ought to be conclusive and sacred. – Alexander Hamilton
A dangerous ambition more often lurks behind the specious mask of zeal for the rights of the people, than under the forbidding appearance of zeal for the firmness and efficiency of Government. – Alexander Hamilton
