The practice of arbitrary imprisonments have been, in all ages, the favorite and most formidable instruments of tyranny.
Interpretation
Arbitrary imprisonments are a powerful tool used by tyrants to crush freedom.
This quote by Alexander Hamilton highlights the historical use of arbitrary imprisonments as a means of oppression. Hamilton warns against the abuse of power that comes with the ability to detain individuals without due process, emphasizing the threat such practices pose to liberty and justice throughout history.
In practice
In a speech about civil liberties, one might use this quote to highlight the dangers of unchecked governmental power.
When men, engaged in unjustifiable pursuits, are aware that obstructions may come from a quarter which bare apprehension of opposition from doing what they would with eagerness rush into if no such external impediments were to be feared.
The tendency of a national bank is to increase public and private credit. The former gives power to the state, for the protection of its rights and interests: and the latter facilitates and extends the operations of commerce among individuals. Industry is increased, commodities are multiplied, agriculture and manufacturers flourish: and herein consists the true wealth and prosperity of a state.
It's not tyranny we desire; it's a just, limited, federal government.
The Achaeans soon experienced, as often happens, that a victorious and powerful ally is but another name for a master.
The people are turbulent and changing; they seldom judge right or make good decision.
The true principle of a republic is that the people should choose whom they please to govern them. Representation is imperfect, in proportion as the current of popular favor is checked. The great source of free government, popular election, should be perfectly pure, and the most unbounded liberty allowed.
For the good of the many, for the happiness of the many, out of compassion for the world.
Wealth and speed are what the world admires, what each pursues. Railways, express mails, steamships and every possible facility for communications are the achievement in which the civilized world view and revels, only to languish in mediocrity by that very fact. Indeed, the effect of this diffusion is to spread the culture of the mediocre.
When I disagree with a rational man, I let reality be our final arbiter; if I am right, he will learn; if I am wrong, I will; one of us will win, but both will profit.
What an absurd thing it is to pass over all the valuable parts of a man, and fix our attention on his infirmities.
All knowledge that is about human society, and not about the natural world, is historical knowledge, and therefore rests upon judgment and interpretation. This is not to say that facts or data are nonexistent, but that facts get their importance from what is made of them in interpretation… for interpretations depend very much on who the interpreter is, who he or she is addressing, what his or her purpose is, at what historical moment the interpretation takes place.
If state, party and social policy will not be based on morality, then mankind has no future to speak of.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.