George Washington Quotes

It is far better to be alone, than to be in bad company.

Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence.

If freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.

Agriculture is the most healthful, most useful and most noble employment of man.

To be prepared for War is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace.

It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one.

It is well, I die hard, but I am not afraid to go.

A free people ought not only be armed and disciplined, but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them. Which would include their own government.

Happiness and moral duty are inseparably connected.

Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force;

like fire, a troublesome servant and a fearful master. Never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action.

Mankind, when left to themselves, are unfit for their own government.

We should not look back unless it is to derive useful lessons from past errors, and for the purpose of profiting by dearly bought experience.

Let us raise a standard to which the wise and honest can repair; the rest is in the hands of God.

Experience teaches us that it is much easier to prevent an enemy from posting themselves than it is to dislodge them after they have got possession.

When we assumed the Soldier, we did not lay aside the Citizen.

Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire called conscience

The very atmosphere of firearms anywhere and everywhere restrains evil interference - they deserve a place of honor with all that's good.

Worry is the interest paid by those who borrow trouble.

The foolish and wicked practice of profane cursing and swearing is a vice so mean and low that every person of sense and character detests and despises it.

You will therefore send me none but Natives, and Men of some property, if you have them.

Let your heart feel for the afflictions and distress of everyone, and let your hand give in proportion to your purse.

Discipline is the soul of an army. It makes small numbers formidable; procures success to the weak, and esteem to all.

'Tis our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world.

Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.

Over grown military establishments are under any form of government inauspicious to liberty, and are to be regarded as particularly hostile to republican liberty.

To be prepared for war is one of the most effective means of preserving peace.

It will be found an unjust and unwise jealousy to deprive a man of his natural liberty upon the supposition he may abuse it.

I hope I shall possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an honest man.

Bad seed is a robbery of the worst kind: for your pocket-book not only suffers by it, but your preparations are lost and a season passes away unimproved.

There is nothing which can better deserve your patronage, than the promotion of science and literature. Knowledge is in every country the surest basis of public happiness.

It is important, likewise, that the habits of thinking in a free Country should inspire caution in those entrusted with its administration, to confine themselves within their respective Constitutional Spheres; avoiding in the exercise of the Powers of one department to encroach upon another.

The marvel of all history is the patience with which men and women submit to burdens unnecessarily laid upon them by their governments.

It is too probable that no plan we propose will be adopted.

Perhaps another dreadful conflict is to be sustained. If to please the people, we offer what we ourselves disapprove, how can we afterwards defend our work? Let us raise a standard to which the wise and the honest can repair. The event is in the hand of God.

We should never despair, our Situation before has been unpromising and has changed for the better, so I trust, it will again. If new difficulties arise, we must only put forth New Exertions and proportion our Efforts to the exigency of the times.

My Mother was the most beautiful woman I ever saw.

All I am I owe to my Mother. I attribute all my success in life to the moral, intellectual and physical education I received from her.

There can be no greater error than to expect, or calculate, upon real favors from nation to nation. It is an illusion which experience must cure, which a just pride ought to discard.

Should the States reject this excellent Constitution, the probability is, an opportunity will never again offer to cancel another in peacethe next will be drawn in blood.

The time is near at hand which must determine whether Americans are to be free men or slaves.

Few people have the virtue to withstand the highest bidder.

Arbitrary power is most easily established on the ruins of liberty abused to licentiousness.

Enjoin this upon the Officers, and let them inculcate, and press home to the Soldiery, the Necessity of Order and Harmony among them, who are embarkd in one common Cause, and mutually contending for all that Freeman sic hold dear. I am persuaded, if the Officers will but exert themselves, these Animosities, this Disorder, will in a great Measure subside, and nothing being more essential to the Service than that it should, I am hopeful nothing on their Parts will be wanting to effect it.

For if Men are to be precluded from offering their Sentiments on a matter, which may involve the most serious and alarming consequences, that can invite the consideration of Mankind, reason is of no use to us; the freedom of Speech may be taken away, and, dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep, to the Slaughter.

For happily the government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens, in giving it on all occasions their effectual support. May the children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other inhabitants, while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig-tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid.

Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder.

Some day, following the example of the United States of America, there will be a United States of Europe.

It is the child of avarice, the brother of iniquity, and the father of mischief.

My observation is that whenever one person is found adequate to the discharge of a duty... it is worse executed by two persons, and scarcely done at all if three or more are employed therein.

I have no other view than to promote the public good, and am unambitious of honors not founded in the approbation of my Country.

A slender acquaintance with the world must convince every man that actions, not words, are the true criterion of the attachment of friends.

Friendship is a plant of slow growth and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to the appellation.

No People can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand, which conducts the Affairs of men more than the People of the United States. Every step, by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation, seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency.

I have beheld no day since the commencement of hostilities that I have thought her liberties in such eminent danger as at present. Friends and foes seem now to combine to pull down the goodly fabric as we have hitherto been raising at the expence of so much time, blood, and treasure; and unless the bodies politick will exert themselves to bring things back to first principles, correct abuses, and punish our internal foes, inevitable ruin must follow.