TO VALERIE,

best of wives and best of women

O BSERVATIONS BY A LEXANDER H AMILTON

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

—LETTER OF AUGUST 13, 1782

The passions of a revolution are apt to hurry even good men into excesses.

—ESSAY OF AUGUST 12, 1795

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

—LETTER OF APRIL 16, 1802

Opinion, whether well or ill founded, is the governing principle of human affairs.

—LETTER OF JUNE 18, 1778 y+Ve3KRAtQDFkn75jqRBDGv46dscaIlfWLcxCyOMz0fxOyJv8s6ocyglksR81oCR