Selected Quotes By George Washington
"It is substantially true, that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government. The rule, indeed, extends with more or less force to every species of free government."
George Washington, Government
"Religious controversies are always productive of more acrimony and irreconcilable hatreds than those which spring from any other cause. I had hoped that liberal and enlightened thought would have reconciled the Christians so that their religious fights would not endanger the peace of Society."
George Washington, Belief, Society
"Nothing is more essential, than that permanent, inveterate antipathies against particular Nations, and passionate attachments for others, should be excluded; and that, in place of them, just and amicable feelings towards all should be cultivated."
George Washington, Society
"I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to private affairs, that honesty is always the best policy."
George Washington, Life
"The great rule of conduct for us, in regard to foreign nations, is, in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible."
George Washington, Government, Society
"Be not glad at the misfortune of another, though he may be your enemy."
George Washington, Kindness
"The Nation, which indulges towards another an habitual hatred, or an habitual fondness, is in some degree a slave. It is a slave to its animosity or to its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its interest. ... The Nation, prompted by ill-will and resentment, sometimes impels to war the Government, contrary to the best calculations of policy. The Government sometimes participates in the national propensity, and adopts through passion what reason would reject; at other times, it makes the animosity of the nation subservient to projects of hostility instigated by pride, ambition, and other sinister and pernicious motives. The peace often, sometimes perhaps the liberty, of Nations has been the victim."
George Washington, Government, Society
"...overgrown military establishments, which, under any form of government, are inauspicious to liberty, and which are to be regarded as particularly hostile to Republican Liberty."
George Washington, Government, Freedom
"No punishment, in my opinion, is too great, for the man who can build his greatness upon his country's ruin."
George Washington, Justice, Society
"Promote, then, as an object of primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened."
George Washington, Government, Society
"The common and continual mischief's of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and the duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it. It serves always to distract the public councils and enfeeble the public administration. It agitates the community with ill founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which find a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passion."
George Washington, Government
"There is nothing so likely to produce peace as to be well prepared to meet the enemy."
George Washington, Anger and Fighting
"I was sorry to see the gloomy picture which you drew of the affairs of your Country in your letter of December; but I hope events have not turned out so badly as you then apprehended. Of all the animosities which have existed among mankind, those which are caused by a difference of sentiments in religion appear to be the most inveterate and distressing, and ought most to be deprecated. I was in hopes, that the enlightened and liberal policy, which has marked the present age, would at least have reconciled Christians of every denomination so far, that we should never again see their religious disputes carried to such a pitch as to endanger the peace of Society."
George Washington, Belief
"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."
George Washington, Intelligence/Wisdom
"Discipline is the soul of an army. It makes small numbers formidable; procures success to the weak, and esteem to all."
George Washington, Anger and Fighting
"Let your heart feel for the afflictions and distress of everyone."
George Washington, Kindness
"To persevere in one's duty, and be silent is the best answer to calumny."
George Washington, Work
"Citizens by birth or choice of a common country, that country has a right to concentrate your affections. The name of American, which belongs to you, in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of Patriotism, more than any appellation derived from local discriminations."
George Washington, Society
"We must consult our means rather than our wishes."
George Washington, Intelligence/Wisdom
"Real men despise battle, but will never run from it."
George Washington, Anger and Fighting
"Our cruel and unrelenting Enemy leaves us no choice but a brave resistance, or the most abject submission; this is all we can expect - We have therefore to resolve to conquer or die: Our own Country's Honor, all call upon us for a vigorous and manly exertion, and if we now shamefully fail, we shall become infamous to the whole world. Let us therefore rely upon the goodness of the Cause, and the aid of the supreme Being, in whose hands Victory is, to animate and encourage us to great and noble Actions - The Eyes of all our Countrymen are now upon us, and we shall have their blessings, and praises, if happily we are the instruments of saving them from the Tyranny meditated against them. Let us therefore animate and encourage each other, and shew the whole world, that a Freeman contending for Liberty on his own ground is superior to any slavish mercenary on earth."
George Washington, Anger and Fighting, Freedom
"Where are our Men of abilities? Why do they not come forth to save their Country?"
George Washington, Society
"Paper money has had the effect in your state that it will ever have, to ruin commerce, oppress the honest, and open the door to every species of fraud and injustice."
George Washington, Wealth
"I conceive a knowledge of books is the basis upon which other knowledge is to be built."
George Washington, Intelligence/Wisdom
"I regret exceedingly that the disputes between the protestants and Roman Catholics should be carried to the serious alarming height mentioned in your letters. Religious controversies are always productive of more acrimony and irreconcilable hatreds than those which spring from any other cause; and I was not without hopes that the enlightened and liberal policy of the present age would have put an effectual stop to contentions of this kind."
George Washington, Belief, Freedom
"To encourage literature and the arts is a duty which every good citizen owes to his country."
George Washington, Goals, Art, Intelligence/Wisdom
"If we desire to avoid insult, we must be able to repel it; if we desire to secure peace, one of the most powerful instruments of our rising prosperity, it must be known, that we are at all times ready for War."
George Washington, Goals, Anger and Fighting
"As Mankind becomes more liberal, they will be more apt to allow that all those who conduct themselves as worthy members of the community are equally entitled to the protections of civil government. I hope ever to see America among the foremost nations of justice and liberality."
George Washington, Government, Freedom
"The turning points of lives are not the great moments. The real crises are often concealed in occurrences so trivial in appearance that they pass unobserved."
George Washington, Life
"Worry is the interest paid by those who borrow trouble."
George Washington, Life
"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."
George Washington, Anger and Fighting
"The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries, which result, gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of Public Liberty."
George Washington, Power, Freedom
"the harder the conflict, the greater the triumph."
George Washington, Anger and Fighting, Success
"Happiness depends more upon the internal frame of a person’s own mind, than on the externals in the world."
George Washington, Happiness
"Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder."
George Washington, Life
"A sensible woman can never be happy with a fool."
George Washington, Sex
"Let us therefore animate and encourage each other, and show the whole world that a Freeman, contending for liberty on his own ground, is superior to any slavish mercenary on earth."
George Washington, Freedom
"Associate yourself with men of good quality, if you esteem your own reputation; for ‘tis better to be alone than in bad company."
George Washington, Intelligence/Wisdom
"Nothing can illustrate these observations more forcibly, than a recollection of the happy conjuncture of times and circumstances, under which our Republic assumed its rank among the Nations; The foundation of our Empire was not laid in the gloomy age of Ignorance and Superstition, but at an Epoch when the rights of mankind were better understood and more clearly defined, than at any former period, the researches of the human mind, after social happiness, have been carried to a great extent, the Treasures of knowledge, acquired by the labours of Philosophers, Sages and Legislatures, through a long succession of years, are laid open for our use, and their collected wisdom may be happily applied in the Establishment of our forms of Government; the free cultivation of Letters, the unbounded extension of Commerce, the progressive refinement of Manners, the growing liberality of sentiment... have had a meliorating influence on mankind and increased the blessings of Society. At this auspicious period, the United States came into existence as a Nation, and if their Citizens should not be completely free and happy, the fault will be entirely their own."
George Washington, Intelligence/Wisdom, Happiness, Government, Society
"Perseverance and spirit have done wonders in all ages."
George Washington, Life
"Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire called conscience."
George Washington, Life
"Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism."
George Washington, Society
"There is nothing which can better deserve our patronage than the promotion of science and literature. Knowledge is in every country the surest basis of public happiness."
George Washington, Intelligence/Wisdom, Happiness
"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."
George Washington, Life
"99% of failures come from people who make excuses."
George Washington, Life
"However [political parties] may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion."
George Washington, Government
"Human happiness and moral duty are inseparably connected."
George Washington, Happiness
"In politics as in philosophy, my tenets are few and simple. The leading one of which, and indeed that which embraces most others, is to be honest and just ourselves and to exact it from others, meddling as little as possible in their affairs where our own are not involved. If this maxim was generally adopted, wars would cease and our swords would soon be converted into reap hooks and our harvests be more peaceful, abundant, and happy."
George Washington, Government
"A free people ought not only to be armed, but disciplined; to which end a uniform and well-digested plan is requisite; and their safety and interest require that they should promote such manufactories as tend to render them independent of others for essential, particularly military, supplies."
George Washington, Freedom
"But lest some unlucky event should happen unfavorable to my reputation, I beg it may be remembered by every gentleman in the room that I this day declare with the utmost sincerity, I do not think myself equal to the command I am honored with."
George Washington, Management
"Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence. True friendship is a plant of slow growth, and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to appellation. "
George Washington, Friendship
"A primary object should be the education of our youth in the science of government. In a republic, what species of knowledge can be equally important? And what duty more pressing than communicating it to those who are to be the future guardians of the liberties of the country?"
George Washington, Intelligence/Wisdom, Government, Freedom
"We sainted St. Tammany (King Tamanend III) because he embodied moral perfection and every divine qualification that a deity could possess. I hold him in higher esteem than the saints of the Roman Catholic Church. He'll forever be the patron saint of America."
George Washington, Belief
"My mother was the most beautiful woman I ever saw. All I am I owe to my mother. I attribute my success in life to the moral, intellectual and physical education I received from her."
George Washington, Sex
"If freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter."
George Washington, Freedom
"It is better to be alone than in bad company."
George Washington, Intelligence/Wisdom
"It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one."