The Federalist Papers Quotes

“A FIRM Union will be of the utmost moment to the peace and liberty of the States, as a barrier against domestic faction and insurrection. It is impossible to read the history of the petty republics of Greece and Italy without feeling sensations of horror and disgust at the distractions with which they were continually agitated, and at the rapid succession of revolutions by which they were kept in a state of perpetual vibration between the extremes of tyranny and anarchy.”
― Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist Papers: The Unabridged 1787-1788 Text of All 85 Complete Essays!

“But the most common and durable source of factions has been the various and unequal distribution of property. Those who hold and those who are without property have ever formed distinct interests in society.”
― Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist Papers: The Unabridged 1787-1788 Text of All 85 Complete Essays!

“So strong is this propensity of mankind to fall into mutual animosities, that where no substantial occasion presents itself, the most frivolous and fanciful distinctions have been sufficient to kindle their unfriendly passions and excite their most violent conflicts.”
― Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist Papers: The Unabridged 1787-1788 Text of All 85 Complete Essays!

“There are again two methods of removing the causes of faction: the one, by destroying the liberty which is essential to its existence; the other, by giving to every citizen the same opinions, the same passions, and the same interests.”
― Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist Papers: The Unabridged 1787-1788 Text of All 85 Complete Essays!

“If we are wise enough to preserve the Union we may for ages enjoy an advantage similar to that of an insulated situation.”
― Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist Papers: The Unabridged 1787-1788 Text of All 85 Complete Essays!

“It is of the nature of war to increase the executive at the expense of the legislative authority.”
― Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist Papers: The Unabridged 1787-1788 Text of All 85 Complete Essays!

“For it is an observation, as true as it is trite, that there is nothing men differ so readily about as the payment of money.”
― Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist Papers: The Unabridged 1787-1788 Text of All 85 Complete Essays!

“CAUSES of faction cannot be removed, and that relief is only to be sought in the means of controlling its EFFECTS.”
― Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist Papers: The Unabridged 1787-1788 Text of All 85 Complete Essays!

“But it could not be less folly to abolish liberty, which is essential to political life, because it nourishes faction, than it would be to wish the annihilation of air, which is essential to animal life, because it imparts to fire its destructive agency.”
― Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist Papers: The Unabridged 1787-1788 Text of All 85 Complete Essays!

“There are two methods of curing the mischiefs of faction: the one, by removing its causes; the other, by controlling its effects.”
― Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist Papers: The Unabridged 1787-1788 Text of All 85 Complete Essays!

“Divide et impera(1) must be the motto of every nation that either hates or fears us.(2)”
― Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist Papers: The Unabridged 1787-1788 Text of All 85 Complete Essays!

“Has it not, on the contrary, invariably been found that momentary passions, and immediate interest, have a more active and imperious control over human conduct than general or remote considerations of policy, utility or justice?”
― Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist Papers: The Unabridged 1787-1788 Text of All 85 Complete Essays!