Quotessence
Home / Authors / George Washington
George Washington

George Washington Quotes

1st U.S. President

Filter quotes by topic

AllGovernmentMenMayNationsIfsFarewell AddressPeopleLiberty4th Of JulyCountryStatesShouldWarPolicyWishHumansPoliticalInterestMankindDuty

Famous George Washington Quotes

“For the sake of humanity it is devoutly to be wished that the manly employment of agriculture and the humanizing benefits of commerce would supersede the waste of war and the rage of conquest; and the swords might be turned into ploughshares, the spears into pruning-hooks, and as the Scripture expresses it, "the nations learn war no more.”

WarMightHumanityNationsWasteBenefitsSakeRageScriptureEmploymentCommerceAgricultureHookConquestManlySpearsPruning
Book:Maxims of George Washington: Political, Military, Social, Moral, and Religious
Create image

“The art of war is at once comprehensive and complicated; ... it demands much previous study; and ... the possession of it, in its most improved and perfect state, is always a great moment to the security of a nation. This, therefore, ought to be a serious care of every government; and for this purpose, an academy, where a regular course of instruction is given, is an obvious expedient, which different nations have successfully employed.”

ArtDifferentWarStatesMomentsGovernmentCarePurposeCoursesGivenNationsPerfectStudySecuritySeriousOughtDemandObviousPossessionComplicatedInstructionEmployedArt Of WarAcademyComprehensiveGreat Moments
Book:The speeches, addresses and messages, of the several presidents of the United States, at the openings of Congress and at their respective inaugurations: Also, the Declaration of independence, the Constitution of the United States, and Washington's farewell address to his fellow-citizens
Create image

“I rejoice in a belief that intellectual light will spring up in the dark corners of the earth; that freedom of enquiry will produce liberality of conduct; that mankind will reverse the absurd position that the many were, made for the few; and that they will not continue slaves in one part of the globe, when they can become freemen in another.”

MadeWarLightEarthBeliefDarkMankindPositionProduceIntellectualSpringSlaveCornersAbsurdRejoiceReverseGlobesFreemanEnquiryLiberality
Book:The Papers of George Washington: April-June 1789
Create image

“To each of my Nephews, William Augustine Washington, George Lewis, George Steptoe Washington, Bushrod Washington, and Samuel Washington, I give one of my swords or Cutteaux of which I may be Possesed; and they are to chuse in the order they are named. These Swords are accompanied with an injuction not to unsheath them for the purpose of shedding blood, except it be for self defense, or in the defense of their Country and its rights; and in the latter case, to keep them unsheathed, and prefer falling with them in their hands, to the relenquishment thereof.”

GivingMayWarSelfCountryHandsPurposeOrderFallCasesRightsBloodDefenseLatterSelf DefenseNephewAugustineShedding Blood
Author:George Washington
Create image

“Passionate attachment to another nation produces a variety of evils... the illusion of common interests where no real common interests exist; adopting the enmities of the other; and participation in the quarrels and wars of the other without any justification. Still another evil is that such a passionate attachment gives to ambitious, corrupted, or deluded citizens the facility to betray or sacrifice the interests of their own country.”

GivingStillsWarRealCountryEvilNationsInterestCommonSacrificeProduceCitizensIllusionPassionateVarietyAttachmentBetrayAmbitiousJustificationParticipationQuarrelsFacilityEnmityAdoptingDeludedCommon Interests
Author:George Washington
Create image

“Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism.”

WarLibertyPatriotismAnti WarAntiwarPatriot4th Of JulyMemorialFreedom And LibertyMemorial DayFreedom LibertyPeace WarGreat WarUs Founding FathersScoundrelsForefathersAmerican PatriotismFarewell AddressMemorial Day PoemsPatriotism In AmericaGood PatrioticHonoring Veterans Memorial DayAgainst WarHappy Memorial DayHonoring Memorial DayServicemenGreat Memorial DayHonor The FallenVeteran MemorialAnti PatriotismVeterans And FreedomPatriotism And WarPatriotic Veteran
Book:Washington's Farewell Address to the People of the United States
Create image

“To be prepared for war is one of the most effective means of preserving peace.”

InspirationalMeanWarMotivationPresidentLeadershipLeaderMilitaryBattlePreparedSoldierDefensePresidentialMartial ArtsBe PreparedVeteranInternational RelationsFreedom And LibertySecond AmendmentPeace WarFirearmsGreat AmericanWorld LeaderSamuraiLeadership By Famous LeadersRights And FreedomsAmerican PresidentInspirational MilitaryUs PresidentHandgunsNational DefenseAmerican SoldierAmerican MilitaryPrice Of FreedomRevolution Founding FathersWay Of The WarriorFighting BattlesAmerican FreedomWar VeteranMilitary SoldierVeteran AppreciationModern WarSoldiers At WarUnited States MilitaryUs PresidentialGreatest MilitaryMilitary MemorialAmerican WarMy SoldierPolitics And WarPreparing For WarServing In The MilitaryPeace Through StrengthCommon DefenseEffects Of War
Author:George Washington
Create image

“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.”

IfsWarAbleDesirePeaceMoneyPowerfulKnownLibertyReadyInstrumentsProsperityDefenseAll TimeSecureRisingInsultMost Powerful4th Of July
Book:Speeches and messages to Congress, proclamations, and addresses
Create image

“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.”

WarSubjectsTravelImportanceConstitutionCongressLibertarianAnti WarAntiwarOffensiveFunny Travel4th Of JulyPeace WarGreat WarTotal WarNo WarDeclaringExpeditionsVestsGreat LibertarianDeclaring War
Book: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
Create image

“In politics as in religion, 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.”

IfsLittlesWarPoliticalJusticeSimpleHonestInvolvedEmbraceAffairCeasePeacefulBeing HonestHarvestHookAdoptedMaximsReapMeddling
Author:George Washington
Create image

“No Man has a more perfect reliance on the all-wise and powerful dispensations of the Supreme Being than I have, nor thinks his aid more necessary...The man must be bad indeed who can look upon the events of the American Revolution without feeling the warmest gratitude towards the great Author of the Universe whose divine interposition was so frequently manifested in our behalf....In war He directed the sword, and in peace, He has ruled in our councils.”

ThinkingMenLooksWarFeelingsUniversePerfectPowerfulWiseEventsDivineRevolutionGratitudeAidsSupremeBehalfCouncilRelianceAmerican RevolutionSupreme BeingGreat Author
Author:George Washington
Create image

“Every post is honourable in which a man can serve his country.”

MenWarCountryPostsTotal WarHonorable Man
Book:The writings of George Washington from the original manuscript sources, 1745-1799: prepared under the direction of the United States George Washington bicentennial commission and published by authority of Congress
Create image

“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.”

KnowsMeanIdeasWarDoneInterestPrinciplesRewardsPatriotismLastingPatrioticVentureContests
Book:The writings of George Washington from the original manuscript sources, 1745-1799
Create image

“The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive the Veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by their nation.”

PeopleWarMatterYoungNationsMilitarySoldierTreatedPerceiveWillingnessTroopsVeteranJustifiedAppreciatedVeterans DayOur VeteransAmerican SoldierHonoring VeteransAmerican MilitaryHonoring Our VeteransVeterans Day Thank YouGreat Veterans DayThank A VeteranHonoring Veterans Memorial DayUs MilitaryThank You VeteranVeterans Day InspirationalVeterans Day PoemsWar VeteranHappy Veterans DayMilitary SoldierVeteran AppreciationHonoring Memorial DayFunny Veterans DayUnited States MilitaryVeterans Day AppreciationAmerican VeteransUs VeteransMilitary MemorialBrave SoldiersVeteran MemorialMilitary VeteranHeroes DayVeterans Day RemembranceChristian Veterans DayThanking Our VeteransVeterans BraveryPatriotic VeteranServing In The MilitaryMemorial Day SoldiersCombat VeteransVietnam VeteranWounded Veterans
Author:George Washington
Create image

“Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force...Never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action.”

ShouldWarReasonMomentsGovernmentActionLeftForcePeaceCitizensLibertarianServantAnti WarAntiwarFoundingGoverningEloquenceIrresponsibleProperty RightsPeace WarGreat WarTroublesomeMake Peace Not WarPeace Not WarEternal VigilanceGreat LibertarianGovernment And PoliticsNot VotingGovernment PoliticsAnti GovernmentVoting Founding FathersSacred Fire
Author:George Washington
Create image

“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-or-what may be the issue of the contest. Speculation-peculation-engrossing-forestalling-with all their concomitants, afford too many melancholy proofs of the decay of public virtue; and too glaring instances of its being the interest and desire of too many, who would wish to be thought friends, to continue the war.”

KnowsMenFirstsMayLittlesWarDesireWishInterestPrinciplesVirtueIssuesReturnConflictFilledVery GoodProofCeaseInstanceGood ManPatrioticMelancholyDecayContestsSpeculationIniquity
Book:The writings of George Washington from the original manuscript sources, 1745-1799
Create image

“Sympathy for the favorite nation, facilitating the illusion of an imaginary common interest in cases where no real common interest exists, and infusing into one the enmities of the other, betrays the former into a participation in the quarrels and wars of the latter without adequate inducement or justification.”

WarRealNationsInterestCommonCasesPolicyIllusionFormerLatterBetrayForeign PolicyImaginaryJustificationParticipationAdequateQuarrelsEnmityCommon InterestsFarewell Address
Book:George Washington's Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior: ...And Other Important Writings
Create image

“If we remain one people, under an efficient government, the period is not far off when we may defy material injury from external annoyance; when we may take such an attitude as will cause the neutrality we may at any time resolve upon to be scrupulously respected; when belligerent nations, under the impossibility of making acquisitions upon us, will not lightly hazard the giving us provocation; when we may choose peace or war, as our interest, guided by justice, shall counsel.”

PeopleIfsGivingMayWarGovernmentNationsCausesInterestJusticeAttitudeMaterialsPeriodsInjuryResolveEfficientImpossibilityAcquisitionHazardsNeutralityAnnoyanceProvocationNational DefenseFarewell Address
Book:Washington's Farewell Address to the People of the United States of America: Published in September, 1796
Create image

“Military arrangement, and movements in consequence, like the mechanism of a clock, will be imperfectand disordered by the want of a part.”

WantWarMilitaryMovementConsequenceClockMechanismAntiwarArrangements
Book:The Writings of George Washington: pt. II. Correspondence and miscellaneous papers relating to the American revolution: (v. 3) June, 1775-July, 1776. (v. 4) July, 1776-July] 1777. (v. 5) July, 1777-July, 1778. (v. 6) July, 1778-March, 1780. (v. 7) March, 1780-April, 1781. (v. 8) April, 1781-December, 1783
Create image

“[L]eave nothing to the uncertainty of procuring a warlike apparatus at the moment of public danger.”

WarMomentsDangerUncertainty
Book: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
Create image

“The General most earnestly requires, and expects, a due observance of those articles of war, established for the government of the army which forbid profane cursing, swearing and drunkenness; and in like manner requires and expects, of all officers, and soldiers, not engaged on actual duty, a punctual attendance on divine service, to implore the blessings of heaven upon the means used for our safety and defence.”

MeanWarGovernmentUsedHeavenDivineDutyBlessingArmySafetySoldierDuesEngagedOfficersArticlesDefenceDrunkennessSwearingProfaneCursingObservancePunctualAttendance
Book:Specimen pages of a proposed publication of the papers of Washington, Franklin, etc
Create image

“..avoiding likewise the accumulation of debt, not only by shunning occasions of expense, but by vigorous exertions in time of peace to discharge the debts, which unavoidable wars may have occasioned, not ungenerously throwing upon posterity the burthen, which we ourselves ought to bear.”

MayWarPoliticsBearsOughtTaxesDebtSpendingOccasionsExpensesThrowingAvoidingPosterityAccumulationVigorousExertionDischargeNational DebtFarewell AddressShunningDebt By Founding FathersOwing A DebtGovernment Debt
Book: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
Create image

“Among the many interesting objects which will engage your attention that of providing for the common defense will merit particular regard. To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace.”

MeanWarInterestingCommonAttentionObjectsParticularRegardPreparedDefenseMeritProvidingPatriotBe PreparedCommon Defense
Book:Lives of the heroes of the American Revolution: comprising the lives of Washington and his generals and officers who were the most distinguished in the War of the Independence of the U. S. A. : also embracing The Declaration of Independence and signers' names, The Constitution of the United States and amendments...together with the inaugural, first annual and farewell addresses of Washington
Create image