“The signal instances of Providential goodness which we have experienced and which have now almost crowned our labors with complete success demand from us in a peculiar manner the warmest returns of gratitude and piety to the Supreme Author of all good.”
Source: The writings of George Washington from the original manuscript sources, 1745-1799
“I cannot tell a lie. I cut down the cherry tree.”
“My aim has been... to keep the United States... independent of all and under the influence of none.”
Source: Washington's Farewell address: the view from the 20th century
“The most enviable praise of all is just to be called an honest man.”
“In disputes, be not so desirous to overcome as to not give liberty to each one to deliver his opinion and submit to the judgment of the major part, especially if they are judges of the dispute.”
Source: The Writings of George Washington: pt.1. Official letters relating to the French war and private letters before the American revolution: March, 1754-May, 1775
“Have the strength to be an honest person.”
“The whole duty of man is summed up in obedience to God's will.”
“The best and only safe road to honor, glory, and true dignity is justice.”
Source: The Quotable George Washington: The Wisdom of an American Patriot
“Be Americans. Let there be no sectionalism, no North, South, East or West. You are all dependent on one another and should be one in union. In one word, be a nation. Be Americans, and be true to yourselves.”
“... happily the Government of the United States... gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance.”
“I only wish, while I am a servant of the public, to know the will of my masters, that I may govern my self accordingly.”
Source: The real George Washington
“Let it simply be asked where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation deserts the oaths, which are the instruments of investigation in the Courts of Justice? And let us with caution indulge the opposition, that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that National morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.”
“The Constitution that we have is an excellent one, if we can keep it where it is.”
“It is in vain, I perceive, to look for ease and happiness in a world of troubles.”
Source: Maxims of Washington: Political, Social, Moral, and Religious
“The tumultuous populace of large cities are ever to be dreaded.”
Source: The Writings: Being His Correspondence, Addresses, Messages, and Other Papers, Official and Private, Selected and Published from the Original Manuscripts : with a Life of the Author, Notes and Illustrations
“The consciousness of having discharged that duty which we owe to our country is superior to all other considerations.”
Source: The Writings of George Washington: Being His Correspondence, Addresses, Messages, and Other Papers, Official and Private, Selected and Published from the Original Manuscripts; with a Life of the Author, Notes, and Illustrations
“The best way to have peace is to always be prepared to fight a way.”
“Leadership is not only having a vision, but also having the courage, the discipline, and the resources to get you there.”
“I commend you, however, for passing the time in as merry a manner as you possibly could; it is assuredly better to go laughing than crying thro' the rough journey of life.”
Source: The writings of George Washington from the original manuscript sources, 1745-1799
“I consider it an indubitable mark of mean-spiritedness and pitiful vanity to court applause from the pen or tongue of man.”
Source: Travels in North-America, in the Years 1780-81-82
“It is not the lowest priced goods that are always the cheapest - the quality is, or ought to be as much an object with the purchaser, as the price.”
Source: The Quotable George Washington: The Wisdom of an American Patriot
“I wish to see the sons and daughters of the world in Peace and busily employed in the more agreeable amusement of fulfilling the first and great commandment, Increase and Multiply : as an encouragement to which we have opened the fertile plains of the Ohio to the poor, the needy and the oppressed of the Earth; any one therefore who is heavy laden, or who wants land to cultivate, may repair thither and abound, as in the Land of promise, with milk and honey: the ways are preparing, and the roads will be made easy, thro' the channels of Potomac and James river.”
“The prospect, that a good general government will in all human probability be soon established in America, affords me more substantial satisfaction; than I have ever before derived from any political event. Because there is a rational ground for believing that not only the happiness of my own countrymen, but that of mankind in general, will be promoted by it.”
Source: The Writings of George Washington: pt. III. Private letters from the time Washington resigned his commission as commander-in-chief of the Army to that of his inauguration as president of the United States: December, 1783-April, 1789
“I wish the constitution, which is offered, had been made more perfect; but I sincerely believe it is the best that could be obtained at this time. And, as a constitutional door is opened for amendment hereafter, the adoption of it, under the present circumstances of the Union, is in my opinion desirable.”
Source: The Writings of George Washington: pt. III. Private letters from the time Washington resigned his commission as commander-in-chief of the Army to that of his inauguration as president of the United States: December, 1783-April, 1789
“Speak seldom, but to important subjects, except such as particularly relate to your constituents, and, in the former case, make yourself perfectly master of the subject.”
Source: The Writings of George Washington: Being His Correspondence, Addresses, Messages, and Other Papers, Official and Private, Selected and Published from the Original Manuscripts; with a Life of the Author, Notes, and Illustrations
“If we cannot learn wisdom from experience, it is hard to say where it is to be found.”
Source: The Quotable George Washington: The Wisdom of an American Patriot
“I shall take my present leave - but not without resorting once more to the benign Parent of the Human Race in humble supplication [prayer] that since he has been pleased to favour the American people, with opportunities for deliberating in perfect tranquility, and dispositions for deciding with unparellelled unanimity on a form of Government, for the security of their Union, and the advancement of their happiness; so his divine blessing may be equally conspicuous in the enlarged views, the temperate consultations, and the wise measures on which the success of this Government must depend.”
“It would be peculiarly improper to omit in this first official act my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being Who rules over the universe, Who presides in the councils of nations, and Whose providential aids can supply every human defect.”
Source: Monuments of Washington's Patriotism: Containing a Fac Simile of His Publick Accounts Kept During the Revolutionary War; and Some of the Most Interesting Documents Connected with His Military Command and Civil Administration; Embracing, Among Others, the Farewell Address to the People of the United States
“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.”
Source: The Writings of George Washington: Being His Correspondence, Addresses, Messages, and Other Papers, Official and Private, Selected and Published from the Original Manuscripts
“Let us therefore rely on 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.”
Source: The writings of George Washington from the original manuscript sources, 1745-1799
“The Commander in Chief directs that Divine service be performed every Sunday at 11 o'clock...It is expected that officers of all ranks will by their attendance set an example to their men.”
“Our conflict is not likely to cease so soon as every good man would wish. The measure of iniquity is not yet filled; and unless we can return a little more to first principles, and act a little more upon patriotic ground, I do not know when it will.”
Source: The writings of George Washington from the original manuscript sources, 1745-1799
“Remember, officers and soldiers, that you are fighting for the blessings of liberty.”
Source: The writings of George Washington from the original manuscript sources, 1745-1799
“Should any American soldier be so base and infamous as to injure any Canadian or Indian in his person or property, I do most earnestly enjoin you to bring him to such severe and exemplary punishment, as the enormity of the crime may require. Should it extend to death itself, it shall not be disproportioned to its guilt, at such a time and in such a cause.”
Source: (v. 9) Containing correspondence from the time of resigning his commission as Commander-in-Chief of the Army, to that of his inauguration as president
“No pecuniary consideration is more urgent, than the regular redemption and discharge of the public debt: on none can delay be more injurious, or an economy of time more valuable. ... Cherish public credit. One method of preserving it is to use it as sparingly as possible: avoiding occasions of expence (and) avoiding likewise the accumulation of debt ... not ungenerously throwing upon posterity the burthen which we ourselves ought to bear.”
“Bless my family, kindred, friends and country, be our God and guide this day and forever for His sake, who lay down in the grave and arose again for us, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”
Source: Washington's Prayers
“If you can't send money, send tobacco.”
“You will permit me to say, that a greater drama is now acting on this theatre than has heretofore been brought on the American tage, or any other in the world. We exhibit at present the novel and astonishing spectacle of a whole people deliberating calmly on what form of government will be most conducive to their happiness; and deciding with an unexpected degree of unanimity in favour of a system which they conceive calculated to answer the purpose.”
“Let me ... warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party.”
Source: Washington's Farewell Address: The Proclamation of Jackson Against Nullification, and the Declaration of Independence
“The alternate triumphs of different parties ... make the public administration the mirror of the ill-concerted and incongruous projects of faction, rather than the organ of consistent and wholesome plans digested by common counsels.”
Source: The Life of General Washington: First President of the United States
“[The spirit of party] 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.”
Source: Washington's Farewell Address: The Proclamation of Jackson Against Nullification, and the Declaration of Independence
“[The spirit of party] opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which finds a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions.”
Source: Washington's Farewell Address to the People of the United States of America
“All combinations and associations, under whatever plausible character, with the real design to direct, control, counteract, or awe the regular deliberation and action of the constituted authorities, are destructive of this fundamental principle, and of fatal tendency. They serve to organize faction, to give it an artificial and extraordinary force; to put, in the place of the delegated will of the nation the will of a party, often a small but artful and enterprising minority of the community.”
Source: Washington's Farewell Address to the People of the United States of America: Published in September, 1796
“This spirit [of Party], unfortunately, is inseperable from our nature, having its root in the strongest passions of the human Mind. It exists under different shapes in all Governments, more or less stifled, controuled, or repressed; but, in those of the popular form it is seen in its greatest rankness and is truly their worst enemy.”
“[The adoption of the Constitution] will demonstrate as visibly the finger of Providence as any possible event in the course of human affairs can ever designate it.”
Source: The real George Washington
“A part of the plan for creating discord, is, I perceive, to make me say things of others, and others of me, wch. have no foundation in truth. The first, in many instances I know to be the case; and the second I believe to be so; but truth or falsehood is immaterial to them, provided their objects are promoted.”
Source: The writings of George Washington from the original manuscript sources, 1745-1799
“A people unused to restraint must be led, they will not be drove.”
Source: The writings of George Washington from the original manuscript sources, 1745-1799
“Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence.”
Source: The Life of General Washington: First President of the United States
“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.”
“Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.”
