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 (1755-1804)

"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 (1755-1804)

"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."

—Alexander Hamilton (1755-1804)

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

—Alexander Hamilton (1755-1804)

"There is a certain enthusiasm in liberty, that makes human nature rise above itself, in acts of bravery and heroism."

—Alexander Hamilton (1755-1804)

"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if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood; if they be repealed or revised before they are promulgated, or undergo such incessant changes that no man, who knows what the law is to-day, can guess what it will be tomorrow."

—Alexander Hamilton (1755-1804)

"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 (1755-1804)

“Those who stand for nothing fall for everything.”

—Alexander Hamilton (1755-1804)

“We must make the best of those ills which cannot be avoided.”

—Alexander Hamilton (1755-1804)

“I have thought it my duty to exhibit things as they are, not as they ought to be.”

—Alexander Hamilton (1755-1804)

“Nobody expects to trust his body overmuch after the age of fifty.”

—Alexander Hamilton (1755-1804)

“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 (1755-1804)