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Best George Washington Quotes
1) “The harder the conflict, the greater the triumph.”
2) “Perseverance and spirit have done wonders in all ages.”
3) “It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one.”
4) “Happiness and moral duty are inseparably connected.”
5) “Truth will ultimately prevail where there is pains to bring it to light.”
6) “The best and only safe road to honor, glory, and the true dignity is justice.”
7) “Few people have the virtue to withstand the highest bidder.”
8) “We must take human nature as we find it, perfection falls not to the share of mortals.”
9) “The Constitution is the guide which I never will abandon.”
10) “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.”
11) “I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to private affairs, that honesty is the best policy.”
12) “A sensible woman can never be happy with a fool.”
13) “To encourage literature and the arts is a duty which every good citizen owes to his country.”
14) “I had rather be on my farm than be emperor of the world.”
15) “Happiness depends more upon the internal frame of a person’s own mind than on the externals in the world.”
George Washington Famous Quotes
16) “Observe good faith and justice towards all nations. Cultivate peace and harmony with all.”
17) “Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence.”
18) “I shall not be deprived of a comfort in the worst event, if I retain a consciousness of having acted to the best of my judgment.”
19) “Worry is the interest paid by those who borrow trouble.”
20) “Three things prompt men to a regular discharge of their duty in time of action, natural bravery, hope of reward, and fear of punishment.”
21) “Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism.”
22) “When we assumed the soldier, we did not lay aside the citizen.”
23) “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.”
24) “The foundation of a great Empire is laid, and I please myself with a persuasion, that Providence will not leave its work imperfect.”
25) “Our cause is noble; it is the cause of mankind.”
26) “Gentlemen, you will permit me to put on my spectacles, for, I have grown not only gray but almost blind in the service of my country.”
27) “Friendship is a plant of slow growth and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to the appellation.”
28) “Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire, called conscience.”
29) “Ninety-nine percent of the failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses.”
30) “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.”
31) “My manner of living is plain, and I do not mean to be put out of it. A glass of wine and a bit of mutton are always ready.”
32) “Someday, following the example of the United States of America, there will be a United States of Europe.”
33) “There is a Destiny which has the control of our actions, not to be resisted by the strongest efforts of Human Nature.”
34) “I conceive a knowledge of books is the basis upon which other knowledge is to be built.”
35) “No punishment, in my opinion, is to great, for the man who can build his greatness upon his country’s ruin.”
36) “Decision making, like coffee, needs a cooling process.”
37) “It is impossible to reason without arriving at a Supreme Being.”
George Washington Religion Quotes
38) “Religion is as necessary to reason as reason is to religion. The one cannot exist without the other. A reasoning being would lose his reason, in attempting to account for the great phenomena of nature, had he not a Supreme Being to refer to; and well has it been said, that if there had been no God, mankind would have been obliged to imagine one.”
39) “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.”
40) “I beg you be persuaded that no one would be more zealous than myself to establish effectual barriers against the horrors of spiritual tyranny, and every species of religious persecution.”
41) “Religious controversies are always productive of more acrimony and irreconcilable hatreds than those which spring from any other cause.”
42) “Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation deserts the oaths?”
43) “While we are zealously performing the duties of good citizens and soldiers, we certainly ought not to be inattentive to the higher duties of religion. To the distinguished character of patriot, it should be our highest glory to add the more distinguished character of Christian.”
44) “I am persuaded, you will permit me to observe, that the path of true piety is so plain as to require but little political direction.”
45) “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.”
George Washington Quotes on Political Parties
46) “It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world.”
47) “One of the expedients of party to acquire influence, within particular districts, is to misrepresent the opinions and aims of other districts.”
48) “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 Quotes on Government
49) “I found a mixed multitude of People here, under very little discipline, order, or Government.”
50) “The basis of our political system is the right of the people to make and to alter their constitutions of government.”
51) “In proportion as the structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened.”
52) “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.”
53) “Mankind, when left to themselves, are unfit for their own government.”
54) “It is now no more that toleration is spoken of, as if it was by the indulgence of one class of people, that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights. 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.”
55) “It appears to me, then, little short of a miracle, that the Delegates from so many different States should unite in forming a system of national Government, so little liable to well-founded objections.”
56) “It may be laid down as a primary position, and the basis of our system, that every citizen who enjoys the protection of a free government, owes not only a proportion of his property, but even of his personal services to the defense of it.”
57) “I go to the chair of government with feelings not unlike those of a culprit who is going to the place of his execution.”
58) “Government is not reason and it is not eloquence. It is force! Like fire it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master. Never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action.”
59) “To form a new Government, requires infinite care, and unbounded attention; for if the foundation is badly laid the superstructure must be bad.”
60) “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.”
61) “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 Quotes on Freedom and Liberty
62) “The time is near at hand which must determine whether Americans are to be free men or slaves.”
63) “Liberty when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth.”
64) “It will be found an unjust and unwise jealousy to deprive a man of his natural liberty upon the supposition he may abuse it.”
65) “If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent, we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.”
66) “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.”
67) “The value of liberty was thus enhanced in our estimation by the difficulty of its attainment, and the worth of characters appreciated by the trial of adversity.”
68) “Overgrown military establishments are under any form of government inauspicious to liberty and are to be regarded as particularly hostile to republican liberty.”
69) “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.”
70) “The establishment of Civil and Religious Liberty was the Motive which induced me to the Field, the object is attained, and it now remains to be my earnest wish & prayer, that the Citizens of the United States could make a wise and virtuous use of the blessings placed before them.”
71) “I wish from my soul that the legislature of this State could see the policy of a gradual Abolition of Slavery.”
72) “While we are contending for our own liberty, we should be very cautious not to violate the rights of conscience in others, ever considering that God alone is the judge of the hearts of men, and to him only in this case they are answerable”
73) “I shall constantly bear in mind, that as the sword was the last resort for the preservation of our liberties, so it ought to be the first thing laid aside, when those liberties are firmly established.”
74) “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 Quotes on Leadership
75) “I shall make it the most agreeable part of my duty to study merit and reward the brave and deserving.”
76) “But if we are to be told by a foreign power what we shall do, and what we shall not do, we have Independence yet to seek, and have contended hitherto for very little.”
77) “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 by a prospect of interest, or some reward.”
78) “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.”
79) “The foundations of our national policy will be laid in the pure and immutable principles of private morality, and the pre-eminence of free government be exemplified by all the attributes which can win the affections of its citizens and command the respect of the world.”
80) “The consciousness of having discharged that duty which we owe to our country is superior to all other considerations.”
81) “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.”
82) “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.”
83) “The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty, and the destiny of the republican model of government, are justly considered deeply, perhaps as finally, staked on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people.”
84) “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.”
85) “It is a great stake we are playing for, and sure we are of winning if the Cards are well managed.”
86) “We are either a United people, or we are not. If the former, let us, in all matters of general concern act as a nation, which have national objects to promote, and a national character to support. If we are not, let us no longer act a farce by pretending to it.”
87) “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.”
88) “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 Quotes on God
89) “The liberty enjoyed by the people of these states of worshiping Almighty God agreeably to their conscience, is not only among the choicest of their blessings, but also of their rights.”
90) “Let us raise a standard to which the wise and honest can repair; the rest is in the hands of God.”
91) “Make sure you are doing what God wants you to do, then do it with all your strength.”
George Washington Quotes on War and Peace
92) “Real men despise battle but will never run from it.”
93) “Our only dependence now is upon the speedy enlistment of a new army. If this fails, I think the game will be pretty well up.
94) “If peace takes place, never sheath your sword says he until you have obtained full and ample justice.”
95) “To be prepared for war is one of the most effective means of preserving peace.”
96) “I am now convinced beyond a doubt, that unless some great and capital change suddenly takes place in that line this army must inevitably be reduced to one or other of these three things. Starve, dissolve or disperse.”
97) “War, an act of violence whose object is to constrain the enemy, to accomplish our will.”
98) “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.”
99) “My first wish is to see this plague of mankind, war, banished from the earth.”
100) “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.”
101) “I heard the bullets whistle, and, believe me, there is something charming in the sound.”
102) “In modern wars the longest purse must chiefly determine the event, I fear that of my enemy will be found to be so, though the government is deeply in debt and of course poor, the nation is rich and their riches afford a fund which will not be easily exhausted.”
103) “A bad war is fought with a good mind.”
104) “The Army, considering the irritable state it is in, its suffering and composition, is a dangerous instrument to play with.”
105) “I am now Imbarkd on a tempestuous Ocean from whence, perhaps, no friendly harbour is to be found.”
106) “The constitution vests the power of declaring war in Congress; therefore, no offensive expedition of importance can be undertaken until after they shall have deliberated upon the subject and authorized such a measure.”
107) “Avoiding occasions of expense by cultivating peace, we should remember also that timely disbursements to prepare for danger frequently prevent much greater disbursements to repel it.”
108) “The recent Instance of uncomplaining patience during the scarcity of provisions in camp is a fresh proof that they possess in an eminent degree the spirit of soldiers and the magninimity of patriots.”
George Washington Quotes Administration
109) “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.”
110) “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.”
111) “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.”
112) “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.”
George Washington Quotes on Death
113) “I’ll die on my feet before I’ll live on my knees!”
114) “Perfection falls not to the share of mortals”
115) “Death…the abyss from where no traveler is permitted to return.”
George Washington Inspirational Quotes
116) “How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant of the weak and the strong. Because someday in life you will have been all of these.”
117) “Associate yourself with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation; for ’tis better to be alone than in bad company.”
118) “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.”
119) “The constitution which at any time exists, till changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole people is sacredly obligatory upon all.”
120) “To contract new debts is not the way to pay old ones.”
121) “A slender acquaintance with the world must convince every man that actions, not words, are the true criterion of the attachment of friends.”
122) “A people who are possessed of the spirit of commerce, who see and who will pursue their advantages may achieve almost anything.”
123) “Be not glad at the misfortune of another, though he may be your enemy.”
124) “We should not look back unless it is to derive useful lessons from the past errors, and for the purpose of profiting by dearly bought experience.”
125) “Interwoven as is the love of liberty with every ligament of your hearts, no recommendation of mine is necessary to fortify or confirm the attachment.”
126) “A good moral character is the first essential in a man, and that the habits contracted at your age are generally indelible, and your conduct here may stamp your character through life. It is therefore highly important that you should endeavor not only to be learned but virtuous.”
127) “When a people shall have become incapable of governing themselves, and fit for a master, it is of little consequence from what quarter he comes.”
George Washington Discipline Quotes
128) “Discipline is the soul of an army. It makes small numbers formidable; procures success to the weak, and esteem to all.”
129) “Nothing can be more hurtful to the service, than the neglect of discipline; for that discipline, more than numbers, gives one army the superiority over another.”
130) “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 Foreign Policy Quotes
131) “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 Humility Quotes
132) “Let your heart feel for the afflictions and distress of everyone, and let your hand give in proportion to your purse.”
133) “Strive not with your superiors in argument, but always submit your judgment to others with modesty.”
134) “A man ought not to value himself of his achievements or rare qualities of wit, much less of his riches, virtue or kindred.”
135) “Let the hospitality of the house, with respect to the poor, be kept up; Let no one go hungry away, if any of these kinds of people should be in want of corn supply their necessities.”
136) “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.”
George Washington Quotes on Love
137) “Love is a mighty pretty thing; but like all other delicious things, it is cloying; and when the first transports of the passion begins to subside, which it assuredly will do, and yield, oftentimes too late, to more sober reflections, it serves to evince, that love is too dainty a food to live upon alone, and ought not to be considered farther than as a necessary ingredient for that matrimonial happiness which results from a combination of causes.”
George Washington Democracy Quote
138) “Democratical States must always feel before they can see, it is this that makes their Governments slow, but the people will be right at last.”
George Washington Sayings
139) “Arbitrary power is most easily established on the ruins of liberty abused to licentiousness.”
140) “Honesty will be found on every experiment, to be the best and only true policy. Let us then as a nation be just.”
141) “Your love of liberty, your respect for the laws, your habits of industry and your practice of the moral and religious obligations, are the strongest claims to national and individual happiness.”
142) “I have no other view than to promote the public good and am unambitious of honors not founded in the approbation of my country.”
143) “In our progress toward political happiness my station is new, and if I may use the expression, I walk on untrodden ground. There is scarcely any part of my conduct which may not hereafter be drawn into precedent.”
144) “Let your conversation be without malice or envy, for it is a sign of a tractable and commendable nature; and in all cases of passion admit reason to govern.”
145) “More permanent and genuine happiness is to be found in the sequestered walks of connubial life than in the giddy rounds of promiscuous pleasure.”
146) “Where are our Men of abilities? Why do they not come forth to save their Country?”
147) “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.”
148) “I have always considered marriage as the most interesting event of one’s life, the foundation of happiness or misery.”
149) “No morn ever dawned more favorable than ours did, and no day was every more clouded than the present! Wisdom, and good examples are necessary at this time to rescue the political machine from the impending storm.”
150) “A man’s intentions should be allowed in some respects to plead for his actions.”
151) “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.”
152) “Let your discourse with men of business be short and comprehensive.”
153) “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.”
154) “Jealousy, and local policy mix too much in all our public councils for the good government of the Union. In a words, the confederation appears to me to be little more than a shadow without the substance.”
155) “I hope, some day or another, we shall become a storehouse and granary for the world.”
156) “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.”
157) “Every post is honorable in which a man can serve his country.”
158) “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.”
159) “Nothing is a greater stranger to my breast, or a sin that my soul more abhors, than that black and detestable one, ingratitude.”
160) “Anything will give up its secrets if you love it enough. Not only have I found that when I talk to the little flower or to the little peanut they will give up their secrets, but I have found that when I silently commune with people they give up their secrets also, if you love them enough”
161) “I was summoned by my country, whose voice I can never hear but with veneration and love.”
162) “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.”
163) “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.”
164) “The hand of providence has been so conspicuous in all this, that he must be worse than an infidel that lacks faith, and more than wicked, that has not gratitude enough to acknowledge his obligations.”
165) “Laws made by common consent must not be trampled on by individuals.”
166) “No country upon earth ever had it more in its power to attain these blessings than United America. Wondrously strange, then, and much to be regretted indeed would it be, were we to neglect the means and to depart from the road which Providence has pointed us to so plainly; I cannot believe it will ever come to pass.”
167) “Gambling is the child of avarice, the brother of iniquity, and the father of mischief.”
168) “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.”
169) “Wherein you reprove another be unblameable yourself, for example is more prevalent than precepts.”
170) “The nation which indulges toward another a habitual hatred or a habitual fondness is in some degree a slave. It is a slave to it animosity or two its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its interest.”
171) “No taxes can be devised which are not more or less inconvenient and unpleasant.”
172) “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.”
173) “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.”
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Great content! I love it. Keep it up! 🙂
Great collection! Enjoyed reading 🙂