It was on this day, January 11th, 1755, when Alexander Hamilton was born on a small island in the British West Indies. To commemorate both Alexander’s birthday and the awe-inspiring talent of Lin Manuel Miranda, I give you the lyrics below.

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Regardless of what high school history courses have taught you, Alexander Hamilton is the unsung hero of the revolutionary generation. Anyone who has seen Lin Manuel Miranda’s In the Heights or Hamilton knows that he is, in my opinion, our generation’s Shakespeare. If you’re lacking inspiration, try combining the two! Even if you haven’t seen Hamilton yet, go ahead and listen to it as you read. I cried six or thirty-seven times while making this list.

1. “There would have been nothin’ left to do for someone less astute. He would’ve been dead or destitute without a cent of restitution. Started workin’, clerkin’ for his late mother’s landlord, tradin’ sugarcane and rum and all the things he can’t afford. Scammin’ for every book he can get his hands on, plannin’ for the future. 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, “Alexander Hamilton”

2. “If you stand for nothing Burr what’ll you fall for?” —Hamilton, “Aaron Burr, Sir”

3. “I’m just like my country—I’m young, scrappy, and hungry, and I am not throwing away my shot.” —Hamilton, “My Shot”

4. “The plan is to fan this spark into a flame.” —Hamilton, “My Shot”

(You guys, I’m so obsessed with this quote that I put it on my Levo profile.)

5. “I never had a group of friends before, I promise that I’ll make y’all proud.” —Hamilton, “My Shot”

6. “I’m past patiently waitin’ I’m passionately smashin’ every expectation. Every action’s an act of creation!” —Hamilton, “My Shot”

7. “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.” —Hamilton, “The Story of Tonight”

8. “You want a revolution? I want a revelation. So listen to my declaration: “We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.” And when I meet Thomas Jefferson, I’m ‘a compel him to include women in the sequel!” —Angelica Schuyler, “The Schuyler Sisters”

9. “Look around, look around at how lucky we are to be alive right now! History is happening in Manhattan and we just happen to be in the greatest city in the world.” —The Schuyler Sisters, “The Schuyler Sisters”

10. “Burr I’d rather be divisive than indecisive. Drop the niceties.” —Hamilton, “A Farmer Refuted”

11. “There’s a million things I haven’t done. Just you wait, just you wait.” —Hamilton, “Satisfied”

12. “I am the one thing in life I can control. I am inimitable, I am an original.” —Burr, “Wait for It”

13. “How does a ragtag volunteer army in need of a shower somehow defeat a global superpower? How do we emerge victorious from the quagmire? Leave the battlefield waving Betsy Ross’ flag higher? Yo. Turns out we have a secret weapon, an immigrant you know and love who’s unafraid to step in. He’s constantly confusin’, confoundin’ the British henchmen— ev’ryone give it up for America’s favorite fighting Frenchman! Lafayette!” —Burr, “Guns and Ships”

14. “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.” —Washington, “History Has Its Eyes on You”

15. “We’re finally on the field, we’ve had quite a run. Immigrants: we get the job done.” —Hamilton and Lafayette, “Yorktown”

16. “We gotta go, gotta get the job done, gotta start a new nation, gotta meet my son!” —Hamilton, “Yorktown”

17. “We’ll fight up close, seize the moment and stay in it.” —Hamilton, “Yorktown”

18. “Hercules Mulligan I need no introduction. When you knock me down I get the F**K back up again.” —Mulligan, “Yorktown”

19. “Even though we started at the very same time, Alexander Hamilton began to climb. How to account for his rise to the top? Man, the man is non-stop.” —Burr, “Nonstop”

20. “Why do write like you’re running out of time? Write every day like you’re running out of time? Every day you fight like you’re running out of time.” —Burr, “Nonstop”

21. “What are you waiting for? What do stall for?” —Hamilton, “Nonstop”

22. “These are wise words, enterprising men quote ‘em. Don’t act surprised you guys ‘cause I wrote ‘em.” —Jefferson, “Cabinet Battle #1”

23. “And another thing, Mr. Age of Enlightenment—don’t lecture me about the war, you didn’t fight in it. You think I’m frightened of you man? We almost died in the trench while you were off gettin’ high with the French!” —Hamilton, “Cabinet Battle #1”

24. “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!” —Hamilton, “The Room Where It Happens”

25. “God help and forgive me, I wanna build something that’s gonna outlive me. What do you want Burr?” —Hamilton, “The Room Where It Happens”

26. “I wrote my way out of hell. I wrote my way to revolution. 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. 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.” —Hamilton, “Hurricane”

25. “I should I’m only nineteen but my mind is older. Gotta be my own man, like my father, but bolder. I shoulder his legacy with pride. I used to hear him say that someday I would—blow us all away.” —Philip Hamilton + Ensemble, “Blow Us All Away”

26. “I don’t pretend to know the challenges we’re facing. I know there’s no replacing what we’ve lost and you need time. But I’m not afraid, I know who I married. Just let me stay here by your side. That would be enough.” —Alexander Hamilton, “It’s Quiet Uptown”

27. “There are moments that the words don’t reach. There is a grace too powerful to name. We push away what we can never understand. We push away the unimaginable.” —Schuyler, “It’s Quiet Uptown”

28. “I have never agreed with Jefferson once. We have fought on like seventy-five different fronts. But when all is said and all is done, Jefferson has beliefs. Burr has none.” —Hamilton, “The Election of 1800”

29. “I will not equivocate on my opinion—I have always worn it on my sleeve.” —Hamilton, “Your Obedient Servant”

30. “I don’t wanna fight, but I won’t apologize for doin’ what’s right.” —Hamilton, “Your Obedient Servant”

31. “What is a legacy? It’s planting seeds in a garden you never get to see.” —Hamilton, “The World Was Wide Enough”

32. “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.” —Hamilton, “The World Was Wide Enough”

33. “When you’re gone who remembers your name? Who keeps your flame? Who tells your story?” —Burr, “Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story”

34. “And when my time is up, have I done enough? Will they tell my story?” —Eliza Hamilton, “Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story”

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