Alexander Hamilton

"Let us recollect that the object of the constitutional convention was to form such a government as would, when reasonably administered, give a happy issue."

"The rights of men are in a state of awful suspense."

"Take mankind in general, they are vain, selfish, and a little knavish."

"A lively and lasting sense of filial duty is more effectually impressed on the mind of a son or daughter by actual indigence than by ten thousand homilies."

"The true principle of government is to empower the many in their collective capacity to control the few."

"The fairest page of history is the record of those exertions by which men vindicated their rights."

"Ambition without principle never was long under the control of its owner."

"When the proposed Constitution was first made public, I was much struck with its general soundness."

"The human mind is not often in the humour to be amused with reason and argument."

"Let your watchword be order and your beacon beauty."

"The experience of the past cannot be lost, the present is too precarious, the future too dark."

"Corroboration is the child of opportunity and accident."

"There is a great difference between an open question and a settled one."

"A government is republican in proportion as every member composeth a part of the sovereignty."

"The true source of our suffering has been our own disunion."

"To learn, we must be humble."

"The sacred respect which belongs to the character of a good citizen is one of the highest rewards."

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

"The Constitution is the way we enforce the will of the people."

"Perseverance and spirit have always been the characteristics of the American people."

"In politics, as in religion, my tenets are few and simple."

"The advancement of science and useful arts should be the constant care of government."

"A library was not a luxury but one of the necessities of life."

"We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts."

"The capacity of the female mind for studies is as good as that of males."

"Where then is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation deserts us?"

"History is a resource for the wise, a reproach to the fool."

"The basis of national greatness is public virtue."

"The art of being happy lies in the power of extracting happiness from common things."

"We must make our election between submission and resistance."