George Washington Quotes

1732–1799, First President of the USA · Wikipedia · Wikidata
quotes
32
topics
12
Origin
What do these mean?
Topic
“To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace.”
VerifiedFirst Annual Address, to both Houses of Congress (8 January 1790). · evidenceDetails & citePeace
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“Discipline is the soul of an army. It makes small numbers formidable; procures success to the weak, and esteem to all.”
VerifiedLetter of Instructions to the Captains of the Virginia Regiments (29 July 1759) · evidenceDetails & citeDiscipline
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“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.”
VerifiedLetter to Bushrod Washington (15 January 1783) · evidenceDetails & citeFriends and Friendship
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“Worry is the interest paid by those who borrow trouble.”
Worry
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“Few people have the virtue to withstand the highest bidder.”
Virtue
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“It is well, I die hard, but I am not afraid to go. [Dec. 14, 1977]”
Famous Last Words
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“Mankind, when left to themselves, are unfit for their own government.”
Government
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“It is the child of avarice, the brother of iniquity, and the father of mischief.”
Gambling
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“Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire called conscience”
Conscience
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“Observe good faith and justice toward all nations. Cultivate peace and harmony with all.”
Peace
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“The time is near at hand which must determine whether Americans are to be free men or slaves.”
Freedom
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“Let us raise a standard to which the wise and honest can repair; the rest is in the hands of God.”
Ethics
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“If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.”
Freedom of Speech
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“Let your heart feel for the afflictions and distress of everyone, and let your hand give in proportion to your purse.”
Work
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“A slender acquaintance with the world must convince every man that actions, not words, are the true criterion of the attachment of friends.”
Friends and Friendship
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“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.”
History and Historians
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“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.”
Honesty
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“Lenience will operate with greater force, in some instances than rigor. It is therefore my first wish to have all of my conduct distinguished by it.”
Mercy
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“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.”
Profanity
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“Over grown military establishments are under any form of government inauspicious to liberty, and are to be regarded as particularly hostile to republican liberty.”
Liberty
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“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.”
Mothers
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“The tumultuous populace of large cities are ever to be dreaded. Their indiscriminate violence prostrates for the time all public authority, and its consequences are sometimes extensive and terrible.”
Riots
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“I know of no pursuit in which more real and important services can be rendered to any country than by improving its agriculture, its breed of useful animals, and other branches of a husbandman's cares.”
Farming and Farmers
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“Let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.”
Morality
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“I do not mean to exclude altogether the idea of patriotism. I know it exists, and I know it has done much in the present contest. But I will venture to assert, that a great and lasting war can never be supported on this principle alone. It must be aided b”
Patriotism
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“I anticipate with pleasing expectations that retreat in which I promise myself to realize, without alloy, the sweet enjoyment of partaking, in the midst of my fellow citizens, the benign influence of good laws under a free government, the ever favorite object of my heart, and the happy reward, as I trust, of our mutual cares, labors, and dangers.”
Retirement
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