40 Alexander Hamilton Quotes About Freedom, Government, and Economy

1. "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."

2. "The instrument by which it [government] must act are either the AUTHORITY of the laws or FORCE. If the first be destroyed, the last must be substituted; and where this becomes the ordinary instrument of government there is an end to liberty!"

3. "It's not tyranny we desire; it's a just, limited, federal government."

4. "We are now forming a republican government. Real liberty is never found in despotism or the extremes of democracy, but in moderate governments."

5. "A struggle for liberty is in itself respectable and glorious. . . . When conducted with magnanimity, justice and humanity, it ought to command the admiration of every friend to human nature. But if sullied by crimes and extravagancies, it loses its respectability."

6. “Give all the power to the many, they will oppress the few. Give all the power to the few, they will oppress the many.”

7. "A fondness for power is implanted in most men, and it is natural to abuse it when acquired."

8. “Who talks most about freedom and equality? Is it not those who hold the bill of rights in one hand and a whip for affrighted slaves in the other?”

9. “To all general purposes we have uniformly been one people each individual citizen everywhere enjoying the same national rights, privileges, and protection.”

10. "Man is either governed by his own laws - freedom - or the laws of another - slavery. Are you willing to become slaves? Will you give up your freedom, your life and your property without a single struggle? No man has a right to rule over his fellow creatures."

1. “A nation which can prefer disgrace to danger is prepared for a master, and deserves one.”

2. “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. ”

3. "The practice of arbitrary imprisonments have been, in all ages, the favorite and most formidable instruments of tyranny."

4. "A sacred respect for the constitutional law is the vital principle, the sustaining energy of a free government."

5. “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.”

6. “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.”

7. “Vigor of government is essential to the security of liberty.”

8. “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.”

9. “If men were angels, no government would be necessary.”

10. “When avarice takes the lead in a state, it is commonly the forerunner of its fall.”

1. "As to Taxes, they are evidently inseparable from Government. It is impossible without them to pay the debts of the nation, to protect it from foreign danger, or to secure individuals from lawless violence and rapine."

2. "Industry is increased, commodities are multiplied, agriculture and manufacturers flourish: and herein consists the true wealth and prosperity of a state."

3. "To cherish and stimulate the activity of the human mind, by multiplying the objects of enterprise, is not among the least considerable of the expedients, by which the wealth of a nation may be promoted."

4. "The prosperity of commerce is now perceived and acknowledged by all enlightened statesmen to be the most useful as well as the most productive source of national wealth, and has accordingly become a primary object of their political cares."

5. "As riches increase and accumulate in few hands, as luxury prevails in society, virtue will be in a greater degree considered as only a graceful appendage of wealth, and the tendency of things will be to depart from the republican standard. This is the real disposition of human nature; it is what neither the honorable member nor myself can correct. It is a common misfortunate that awaits our State constitution, as well as all others."

6. "The natural effect of low interest is to increase trade and industry; because undertakings of every kind can be prosecuted with greater advantage."

7. "There are some who maintain that trade will regulate itself, and it is not to be benefited by the encouragements or restraints of government. Such persons will imagine that there is no need of a common directing power. This is one of those wild speculative paradoxes, which have grown into credit among us, contrary to the uniform practice and sense of the most enlightened nations."

8. "The Spirit of Enterprise, which characterizes the commercial part of America, has left no occasion of displaying itself unimproved. It is not at all probable that this unbridled spirit would pay much respect to those regulations of trade by which particular States might endeavor to secure exclusive benefits to their own citizens."

9. “A national debt, if it is not excessive, will be to us a national blessing.”

10. “But the most common and durable source of factions has been the various and unequal distribution of property.”

1. “Those who stand for nothing fall for everything.”

2. "A promise must never be broken."

3. “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.”

3. “A well adjusted person is one who makes the same mistake twice without getting nervous.”

4. “The art of reading is to skip judiciously.”

5. "I never expect a perfect work from an imperfect man.”

6. “Men are reasoning rather than reasonable animals.”

7. “Hard words are very rarely useful. Real firmness is good for every thing. Strut is good for nothing.”

8. “Caution and investigation are a necessary armor against error and imposition.”

9. "One great error is that we suppose mankind more honest than they are."

10. "No character, however upright, is a match for constantly reiterated attacks, however false."