The propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which Heaven itself has ordained.
—George Washington
If we mean to support the liberty and independence which have cost us so much blood and treasure to establish, we must drive far away the demon of party spirit and local reproach.
—George Washington
Topics: Party
I hope I shall always possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an “Honest Man.”
—George Washington
Topics: Honesty
It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one.
—George Washington
Topics: Excuses
Discipline is the soul of an army. It makes small numbers formidable, procures success to the weak, and esteem to all.
—George Washington
Be not forward, but friendly and courteous; the first to salute, hear and answer; and be not pensive when it is time to converse.
—George Washington
Topics: Friendship
We must never despair, our situation has been compromising before, and it has changed for the better, so I trust it will again. If difficulties arise, we must put forth new exertion and proportion our efforts to the exigencies of the times.
—George Washington
In a free and republican government, you cannot restrain the voice of the multitude. Every man will speak as he thinks, or, more properly, without thinking, and consequently will judge of effects without attending to their causes.
—George Washington
Topics: Speaking, Public
The name of American, which belongs to you, in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of Patriotism…. It should be the highest ambition of every American to extend his views beyond himself, and to bear in mind that his conduct will not only affect himself, his country, and his immediate posterity; but that its influence may be co-extensive with the world, and stamp political happiness or misery on ages yet unborn.
—George Washington
Topics: America
‘Tis our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world.
—George Washington
Topics: Community
Over grown military establishments are under any form of government inauspicious to liberty, and are to be regarded as particularly hostile to republican liberty.
—George Washington
Topics: Liberty
Interwoven is the love of liberty with every ligament of the heart.
—George Washington
Topics: Liberty
Providence has done, and I am persuaded is disposed to do, a great deal for us; but we are not to forget the fable of Jupiter and the countryman.
—George Washington
Topics: Self-reliance
To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace.
—George Washington
Topics: Peace, War
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.
—George Washington
When a man does all he can, though it succeeds not well, blame not him that did it.
—George Washington
Topics: Success
Republicanism is not the phantom of a deluded imagination.—On the contrary, under no form of government are laws better supported, liberty and property better secured, or happiness more effectually dispensed to mankind.
—George Washington
It is to be lamented that great characters are seldom without a blot.
—George Washington
Topics: Greatness
The administration of justice is the firmest pillar of government.
—George Washington
Topics: Justice
Labor to keep alive that little spark of celestial fire, called conscience.
—George Washington
Topics: Wisdom, Character, Conscience
To admit then a right in the House of Representatives to demand, and to have as a matter of course, all the Papers respecting a negotiation with a foreign power, would be to establish a dangerous precedent. It does not occur that the inspection of the papers asked for, can be relative to any purpose under the cognizance of the House of Representatives, except that of an impeachment, which the resolution has not expressed. I repeat, that I have no disposition to withhold any information which the duty of my station will permit, or the public good shall require to be disclosed: and in fact, all the Papers affecting the negotiation with Great Britain were laid before the Senate, when the Treaty itself was communicated for their consideration and advice. The course which the debate has taken, on the resolution of the House, leads to some observations on the mode of making treaties under the Constitution of the United States.
—George Washington
It is much easier at all times to prevent an evil than to rectify mistakes.
—George Washington
Topics: Evil
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 the appellation.
—George Washington
Topics: Friends, Friends and Friendship, Difficulty, Friendship
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
Topics: Wisdom, Integrity, Honesty, Virtues
Someday, following the example of the United States of America, there will be a United States of Europe.
—George Washington
Speak not injurious words, neither in jest nor earnest; scoff at none although they give occasion.
—George Washington
Topics: Insults
At a distance from the theater of action, truth is not always related without embellishment.
—George Washington
Experience has taught us that men will not adopt and carry into execution measures the best calculated for their own good without the intervention of a coercive power
—George Washington
Topics: Experience
I can only say that there is not a man living who wishes more sincerely than I do to see a plan adopted for the abolition of slavery.
—George Washington
Topics: Slavery, Wishes
The aggregate happiness of society, which is best promoted by the practise of a virtuous policy, is, or ought to be, the end of all government.
—George Washington
Topics: Government
Wondering Whom to Read Next?
- Thomas Jefferson American Head of State
- John Adams American Head of State
- Andrew Jackson American Head of State
- Jimmy Carter American Head of State
- James Madison American Statesman, President
- Ronald Reagan American Head of State
- Robert E. Lee American Military General
- Ulysses S. Grant American Head of State
- Herbert Hoover American Statesman
- James A. Garfield American Head of State
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