Finally got around to reading The Federalist (have been trudging through the introductions for a whle now in my pre-slumber reading), and right away in Federalist #1 Hamilton hits with a quote to add to my list (a long one, but worth it, imho:

So numerous indeed and so powerful are the causes which serve to give a false bias to the judgment, that we, upon many occasions, see wise and good men on the wrong as well as on the right side of questions of the first magnitude to society. This circumstance, if duly attended to, would furnish a lesson of moderation to those who are ever so much persuaded of their being in the right in any controversy. And a further reason for caution, in this respect, might be drawn from the reflection that we are not always sure that those who advocate the truth are influenced by purer principles than their antagonists. Ambition, avarice, personal animosity, party opposition, and many other motives not more laudable than these, are apt to operate as well upon those who support as those who oppose the right side of a question. Were there not even these inducements to moderation, nothing could be more ill-judged than that intolerant spirit which has, at all times, characterized political parties.

Would that these words would be heeded by the braying Ds and the trumpeting Rs.

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One thought on “New Quote

  1. Hamilton was on his good behavior when he wrote that. He had a very bad habit of rubbing people the wrong way –which was why he never was nominated by the other Federalists for President.

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