Hamilton: An American Musical is a sung-and-rapped-through musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda, who was inspired after he read the biography “Alexander Hamilton” by Ron Chernow. The musical tells the story of Alexander Hamilton, one of America’s Founding Fathers. In this article, we are sharing with you the most memorable Hamilton quotes from this outstanding musical.
Hamilton was an illegitimate, poor orphan, who emigrated from the British West Indies to New York when he was just a teenager. During the Revolutionary War, Hamilton worked with Washington as his aide-de-camp. Hamilton pasionately supported the establishment of stable central government.
Hamilton wrote most of the Federalist Papers after attending the Constitutional Convention that took place in 1787, and was also the first U.S. treasury secretary. In 1804, Hamilton was killed during a duel with Aaron Burr, who was the sitting vice president and also his bitter rival.
The musical draws a lot from pop, soul, R&B, traditional-style show tunes. In 2015, it premiered Off-Broadway with Miranda herself playing the role of Hamilton. The show was critically acclaimed and won 8 Drama Desk Awards. It also won 11 awards out of 16 awards after it was nominated for at the 70th Tony Awards, and in 2016 the musical received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
Here is a sneak peek at the quotes in this article:
Table of Contents
- Alexander Hamilton Quotes
- Aaron Burr Quotes from Hamilton
- Thomas Jefferson Quotes from Hamilton
- George Washington Quotes from Hamilton
- King George III Quotes from Hamilton
- Eliza Hamilton Quotes
- Angelica Schuyler Quotes from Hamilton
- Interesting Facts about Hamilton the Musical
Alexander Hamilton Quotes
Alexander Hamilton: My name is Alexander Hamilton. There’s a million things I haven’t done, just you wait.
Alexander Hamilton: America, you great unfinished symphony, you sent for me. You let me make a difference. A place where even orphan immigrants can leave their fingerprints and rise up.
Alexander Hamilton: Everything’s legal in New Jersey.
Alexander Hamilton: Rise Up!
Alexander Hamilton: I may not live to see our glory. But I will gladly join the fight. And when our children tell our story, they’ll tell the story of tonight.
Alexander Hamilton: Immigrants, we get the job done!
Alexander Hamilton: I’m just like my country—I’m young, scrappy, and hungry, and I am not throwing away my shot.
Alexander Hamilton: If you stand for nothing, Burr, what will you fall for?
Alexander Hamilton: Legacy. What is a legacy? It’s planting seeds in a garden you never get to see.
Alexander Hamilton: I’m past patiently waitin’ I’m passionately smashin’ every expectation. Every action’s an act of creation!
Alexander Hamilton: The plan is to fan this spark into a flame.
Alexander Hamilton: God help and forgive me, I wanna build something that’s gonna outlive me. What do you want Burr?
Alexander Hamilton: When you got skin in the game, you stay in the game. But you don’t get a win unless you play in the game. Oh, you get love for it. You get hate for it. You get nothing if you…Wait for it, wait for it, wait!
Alexander Hamilton: I probably shouldn’t brag, but dag, I amaze and astonish.
Alexander Hamilton: This is not a moment. It’s the movement.
Alexander Hamilton: Best of wives and best of women.
Alexander Hamilton: My love, take your time. I’ll see you on the other side.
Alexander Hamilton: I imagine death so much it feels more like a memory. Is this where it gets me, on my feet, several feet ahead of me? I see it coming, do I run or fire my gun or let it be? There is no beat, no melody.
Alexander Hamilton: I stand by what I said, every bit of it. You stand only for yourself. It’s what you do. I can’t apologize because it’s true.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8_ARd4oKiI&ab_channel=JungleVlog
Alexander Hamilton: And in the face of ignorance and resistance, I wrote financial systems into existence. And when my prayers to God were met with indifference, I picked up a pen, I wrote my own deliverance.
Alexander Hamilton: Raise a glass to freedom…
Alexander Hamilton: When I was seventeen a hurricane destroyed my town. I didn’t drown. I couldn’t seem to die. I wrote my way out, wrote everything down far as I could see.
Alexander Hamilton: I wrote my way out of hell. I wrote my way to revolution.
Alexander Hamilton: If we try to fight in every revolution in the world, we never stop. Where do we draw the line?
Alexander Hamilton: He’ll follow suit if he’s truly a man of honor. To take someone’s life, that is something you can’t shake.
Alexander Hamilton: Burr, we studied and we fought and we killed for the notion of a nation we now get to build.
Alexander Hamilton: I’ve always considered you a friend.
Alexander Hamilton: Gentlemen of the jury, I’m curious, bear with me. Are you aware that we’re making history?
Alexander Hamilton: That’s when I began to pray: Lord, show me how to say no to this. I don’t know how to say no to this. But my God, she looks so helpless and her body’s saying, ‘hell, yes.
Alexander Hamilton: For once in your life, take a stand with pride. I don’t understand how you stand to the side.
Alexander Hamilton: I’m more than willing to die.
Alexander Hamilton: If it takes fighting a war for us to meet, it will have been worth it.
Alexander Hamilton: You’re like me. I’m never satisfied.
Alexander Hamilton: Burr, I’d rather be divisive than indecisive. Drop the niceties.
Alexander Hamilton: My dog speaks more eloquently than thee!
Alexander Hamilton: Since when are you a Democratic-Republican?
Alexander Hamilton: Give me a position, show me where the ammunition is! Oh, am I talkin’ too loud? Sometimes I get over excited, shoot off at the mouth. I never had a group of friends before, I promise that I’ll make y’all proud.
Alexander Hamilton: Don’t be shocked when your history book mentions me. I will lay down my life if it sets us free. Eventually, you’ll see my ascendancy…
Alexander Hamilton: How you say, no sweat. We’re finally on the field. We’ve had quite a run.
Alexander Hamilton: I was louder than the crack in the bell. I wrote Eliza love letters until she fell. I wrote about The Constitution and defended it well.
Aaron Burr Quotes from Hamilton
Aaron Burr: And when you’re gone, who remembers your name? Who keeps your flame? Who tells your story?
Aaron Burr: Now I’m the villain in your history. I was too young and blind to see… I should’ve known. The world was wide enough for both Hamilton and me.
Aaron Burr: Then stand, Alexander. Weehawken. Dawn. Guns. Drawn.
Aaron Burr: I’m chasing what I want. And you know what? I learned that from you.
Aaron Burr: I changed parties to seize the opportunity I saw. I swear, your pride will be the death of us all! Beware: it goeth before the fall…
Aaron Burr: I look forward to our partnership.
Aaron Burr: And me, I’m the damn fool that shot him.
Aaron Burr: I wanna be in the room where it happens. I’ve got to be in the room where it happens.
Aaron Burr: You’ve kept me from the room where it happens. For the last time.
Aaron Burr: Why do you assume you’re the smartest in the room? Soon that attitude may be your doom!
Aaron Burr: Why do you write like you’re running out of time? Write day and night like you’re running out of time? Every day you fight, like you’re running out of time.
Aaron Burr: While we’re talking, let me offer you some free advice. Talk less.
Aaron Burr: Why do you always say what you believe? Every proclamation guarantees free ammunition for your enemies!
Aaron Burr: I am slow to anger, but I toe the line as I reckon with the effects of your life on mine. I look back on where I failed, and in every place I checked, the only common thread has been your disrespect.
Aaron Burr: I’ll keep all my plans close to my chest. I’ll wait here and see which way the wind will blow. I’m taking my time, watching the afterbirth of a nation, watching the tension grow.
Aaron Burr: Can we agree that duels are dumb and immature?
Aaron Burr: Hamilton doesn’t hesitate. He exhibits no restraint. He takes and he takes and he takes and he keeps winning anyway. He changes the game. He plays and he raises the stakes. And if there’s a reason he seems to thrive when so few survive, then Goddamnit—I’m willing to wait for it.
Aaron Burr: Wait for it. I am the one thing in life I can control. I am inimitable. I am an original. I’m not falling behind or running late. I’m not standing still; I am lying in wait.
Aaron Burr: Talk less. Smile more. Don’t let them know what you’re against or what you’re for.
Aaron Burr: Fools who run their mouth off wind up dead.
Aaron Burr: No one else was in the room where it happened. No one really knows how the game is played, the art of the trade, how the sausage gets made. We just assume that it happens. But no one else is in the room where it happens.
Aaron Burr: See him now as he stands on the bow of a ship headed for a new land. In New York you can be a new man.
Aaron Burr: How does a bastard, orphan, son of a whore and a Scotsman, dropped in the middle of a forgotten spot in the Caribbean by providence, impoverished, in squalor, grow up to be a hero and a scholar?
Aaron Burr: Love doesn’t discriminate between the sinners and the saints. It takes and it takes and it takes and we keep loving anyway.
Aaron Burr: How does a ragtag volunteer army in need of a shower somehow defeat a global superpower?
Aaron Burr: We’ll bleed and fight for you. We’ll make it right for you. If we lay a strong enough foundation, we’ll pass it on to you. We’ll give the world to you and you’ll blow us all away.
Aaron Burr: Rumours only grow. And we both know what we know.
Aaron Burr: Now you call me “amoral,” a “dangerous disgrace.” If you’ve got something to say. Name a time and place. Face to face.
Aaron Burr: My grandfather was a fire and brimstone preacher. My mother was a genius.
Thomas Jefferson Quotes from Hamilton
Thomas Jefferson: I’ll give him this: His financial system is a work of genius. I couldn’t undo it if I tried. And I tried.
Thomas Jefferson: He’s never gonna be president now. That’s one less thing to worry about.
Thomas Jefferson: Hamilton’s a host unto himself. As long as he can hold a pen, he’s a threat.
Thomas Jefferson: You’re nothing without Washington behind you.
Thomas Jefferson: I know that Alexander Hamilton is here and he would rather not have this debate. I’ll remind you that he is not Secretary of State. He knows nothing of loyalty, smells like new money, dresses like fake royalty, desperate to rise above his station, everything he does betrays the ideals of our nation.
Thomas Jefferson: Such a blunder sometimes it makes me wonder why I even bring the thunder.
Thomas Jefferson: Every action has its equal, opposite reactions.
Thomas Jefferson: Look, when Britain taxed our tea, we got frisky. Imagine what’s gonna happen when you try to tax our whiskey.
Thomas Jefferson: Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.’ We fought for these ideals; we shouldn’t settle for less. These are wise words, enterprising men quote them. Don’t act surprised, you guys, because I wrote them.
Thomas Jefferson: If there’s a fire you’re trying to douse; you can’t put it out from inside the house!
Thomas Jefferson: Can we get back to politics, please?
Thomas Jefferson: Have you an ounce of regret? You accumulate debt, you accumulate power. Yet in their hour of need, you forget.
Thomas Jefferson: Try not to crack under the stress, we’re breaking down like fractions.
George Washington Quotes from Hamilton
George Washington: I know that we can win. I know that greatness lies in you. But remember from here on in, history has its eyes on you.
George Washington: The world will never be the same, Alexander.
George Washington: Winning was easy, young man. Governing is harder.
George Washington: Don’t do a thing. History will prove him wrong.
George Washington: I am not a maiden in need of defending; I am grown.
George Washington: Dying is easy young man, living is harder.
George Washington: My name’s been through a lot. I can take it.
George Washington: This close to giving up, facing mad scrutiny, I scream in the face of this mass mutiny: are these the men with which I am to defend America? We ride at midnight, Manhattan in the distance. I cannot be everywhere at once, people. I’m in dire need of assistance…
George Washington: We are a powder keg about to explode. I need someone like you to lighten the load.
George Washington: Let me tell you what I wish I’d known when I was young and dreamed of glory: You have no control: Who lives, who dies, who tells your story.
George Washington: Everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid.
George Washington: It’s all right, you wanna fight. You’ve got a hunger. I was just like you when I was younger. Head full of fantasies of dying like a martyr?
George Washington: This war is hard enough without infighting.
George Washington: The people are rioting. There’s a difference. Frankly, it’s a little disquieting. You would let your ideals. Blind you to reality. Hamilton?
George Washington: Outrun. Outlast. Hit ’em quick, get out fast.
George Washington: Ladies and gentlemen, you could’ve been anywhere in the world tonight, but you’re here with us in New York City. Are you ready for a Cabinet meeting?
George Washington: I stop wasting time on tears. I live another 50 years.
George Washington: Pick up a pen, start writing. I wanna talk about what I have learned. The hard-won wisdom I have earned.
King George III Quotes from Hamilton
King George III: All alone, across the sea. When your people say they hate you, don’t come crawling back to me… You’re on your own…
King George III: What comes next? You’ve been freed. Do you know how hard it is to lead? You’re on your own. Awesome. Wow. Do you have a clue what happens now?
King George III: I will kill your friends and family to remind you of my love.
King George III: They say George Washington is yielding his power and stepping away. Is that true? I wasn’t aware that was something a person could do.
King George III: You’ll be back, soon you’ll see. You’ll remember you belong to me. You’ll be back, time will tell. You’ll remember that I served you well. Oceans rise, empires fall. We have seen each other through it all. And when push comes to shove, I will send a fully armed battalion to remind you of my love!
King George III: Next to Washington they all look small.
Eliza Hamilton Quotes
Eliza Hamilton: Why do you write like you’re running out of time?
Eliza Hamilton: You forfeit all rights to my heart. You forfeit the place in our bed. You sleep in your office instead, with only the memories of when you were mine. I hope that you burn.
Eliza Hamilton: Do you know what Angelica said when we saw your first letter arrive? She said, ‘Be careful with that one, love. He will do what it takes to survive.
Eliza Hamilton: Do you know what Angelica said when she read what you’d done? ‘You have married an Icarus. He has flown too close to the sun.’
Eliza Hamilton: We don’t need a legacy. We don’t need money. If I could grant you peace of mind, if you could let me inside your heart… Oh, let me be a part of the narrative in the story they will write someday. Let this moment be the first chapter: Where you decide to stay and I could be enough and we could be enough that would be enough.
Eliza Hamilton: I have never been the type to try and grab the spotlight. We were at a revel with some rebels on a hot night, laughin’ at my sister as she’s dazzling the room then you walked in and my heart went, ‘Boom!’
Eliza Hamilton: Look around, look around at how lucky we are to be alive right now!
Eliza Hamilton: You want a revolution? I want a revelation!
Eliza Hamilton: Look at where you are. Look at where you started. The fact that you’re alive is a miracle. Just stay alive, that would be enough.
Eliza Hamilton: Helpless! Look into your eyes, and the sky’s the limit, I’m helpless! Down for the count, and I’m drowning in them.
Eliza Hamilton: You and your words flooded my senses. Your sentences left me defenceless. You built me palaces out of paragraphs. You built cathedrals.
Eliza Hamilton: In their eyes, I see you, Alexander. I see you every time and when my time is up, have I done enough, will they tell your story?
Angelica Schuyler Quotes from Hamilton
Angelica Schuyler: In a letter I received from you two weeks ago I noticed a comma in the middle of a phrase. It changed the meaning. Did you intend this? One stroke and you’ve consumed my waking days. It says: My dearest Angelica. With a comma after ‘dearest.’ You’ve written… ‘My dearest, Angelica‘.
Angelica Schuyler: He will never be satisfied. I will never be satisfied.
Angelica Schuyler: When I fantasize at night it’s Alexander’s eyes, as I romanticize what might have been if I hadn’t sized him up so quickly. At least my dear Eliza’s his wife; at least I keep his eyes in my life…
Angelica Schuyler: I’m about to change your life.
Angelica Schuyler: There are moments that the words don’t reach.
Angelica Schuyler: I’m just saying if you really loved me you would share him.
Angelica Schuyler: We push away what we can never understand. We push away the unimaginable.
Angelica Schuyler: And when I meet Thomas Jefferson, I’ll compel him to include women in the sequel. Work!
Angelica Schuyler: They are standing in the garden, Alexander by Eliza’s side. She takes his hand. It’s quiet uptown. Forgiveness. Can you imagine?
Angelica Schuyler: I love my sister more than anything in this life. I will choose her happiness over mine every time.
Interesting Facts about Hamilton the Musical
Time to learn some interesting facts about Hamilton the musical, don’t you think?
- The Musical was Inspired During a Vacation – When Lin-Manuel Miranda was vacationing in Mexico, he read the biography about Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow, and it was then that he started to imagine this biography coming to life as a musical. Lin then decided to Google his vision for his musical and looked for “Alexander Hamilton hip-hop musical”. When he saw no results, he began to work on his own project, and which results in this musical.
- Not The First Hamilton on Stage – Back in 1917, there was a Broadway play by the name of “Hamilton” that was written by Mary Hamlin. This play starred George Arliss and followed underrated Alexander Hamilton, who tried to help the financial system and come up with a new structure for America.
- It Took Some Time to Create It – It took Lin-Manuel Miranda a whole year just to write the first song of the musical, and then another year to write the second one, even though he wasn’t new to the world of theatre, as at that time he already won a Tony Award.
- Most of the Cast is Non-White – All the Founding Fathers were white, and some even owned slaves who were black. In the Hamilton musical, Miranda intentionally gave people of color the leading roles and reversed things. Miranda said that it’s the story of America then, but being told in nowadays America. This way, it actually delivers a powerful statement without having to be a statement.
- No Dialogue – Well, almost no dialogue. The play has little dialogue in it, since Miranda thought that the spoken text did not meld and go well with the hip-hop. All in all, his version of the musical is superb and special.
- More Than Miranda Anticipated – Miranda had no idea that his musical will be such a huge success. In 2016, it won 11 Tony Awards out of 16 it was nominated for, which was also a new record. Since then it won even more awards. As for tickets, you have to order them at least a year in advance, just to have a chance to attend and enjoy this amazing musical.
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