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Men are rather reasoning than reasonable animals for the most part governed by the impulse of passion.

Alexander Hamilton

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Alexander Hamilton
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Nobody expects to trust his body overmuch after the age of fifty.
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The vigour of government is essential to the security of liberty. . . . 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.
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A habit of labor in the people is as essential to the health and rigor of their minds and bodies as it is conducive to the welfare of the state.
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Take mankind as they are, and what are they governed by? Their passions.
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Schemes to subvert the liberties of a great community require time to mature them for execution.
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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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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.
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I would die to preserve the law upon a solid foundation but take away liberty, and the foundation is destroyed.
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Give all the power to the many, they will oppress the few. Give all the power to the few, they will oppress the many.
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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.
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If it be said that the legislative body are themselves the constitutional judges of their own powers, and that the construction they put upon them is conclusive upon the other departments, it may be answered, that this cannot be the natural presumption, where it is not be collected from any particular provisions in the Constitution.
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To presume a want of motives for such contests . . . would be to forget that men are ambitious, vindictive, and rapacious.
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To attempt to enumerate the complicated variety of mischiefs in the whole system of the social economy, which proceed from a neglect of the maxims that uphold public credit, and justify the solicitude manifested by the House on this point, would be an improper intrusion on their time and patience.
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A fondness for power is implanted in most men, and it is natural to abuse it when acquired.
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The treaties of the United States, to have any force at all, must be considered as part of the law of the land.
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There can be no limitation of that authority which is to provide for the defense and protection of the community in any matter essential to the formation, direction, or support of the NATIONAL FORCES.
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To judge from the history of mankind, we shall be compelled to conclude, that the fiery and destructive passions of war, reign in the human breast, with much more powerful sway, than the mild and beneficent sentiments of peace.
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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.
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The powers contained in a constitution...ought to be construed liberally in advancement of the public good.
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The Courts must declare the sense of the law and if they should be disposed to exercise will instead of judgement the consequences would be the substitution of their pleasure for that of the legislative body.
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