88 George Washington Quotes

It is impossible to rightly govern a nation without God and the Bible.

It is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor.

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.

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.

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.

Someday, following the example of the United States of America, there will be a United States of Europe.

Providence has at all times been my only dependence, for all other resources seemed to have failed us.

Associate yourself with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation. It is better be alone than in bad company.

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

Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence.

Actions, not words, are the true criterion of the attachment of friends.

The time is near at hand which must determine whether Americans are to be free men or slaves.

Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder.

The consideration that human happiness and moral duty are inseparably connected will always continue to prompt me to promote the former by inculcating the practice of the latter.

Observe good faith and justice toward all nations. Cultivate peace and harmony with all.

Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire, called conscience.

It will be found an unjust and unwise jealousy to deprive a man of his natural liberty upon the supposition he may abuse it.

The very idea of the power and right of the people to establish government presupposes the duty of every individual to obey the established government.

There is a natural and necessary progression, from the extreme of anarchy to the extreme of tyranny; and arbitrary power is most easily established on the ruins of liberty abused to licentiousness.

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.

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.

There is an opinion that parties in free countries are useful checks upon the administration of the government, and serve to keep alive the spirit of liberty. This, within certain limits, is probably true. But in governments of a popular character, and purely elective, it is a spirit not to be encouraged. From their natural tendency, there will always be enough of that spirit for every salutary purpose. And there being constant danger of excess, the effort ought to be, by force of public opinion, to mitigate and assuage it. A fire not to be quenched, it demands a uniform vigilance to prevent it bursting into a flame, lest, instead of warming, it should consume.

I have no other view than to promote the public good, and am unambitious of honors not founded in the approbation of my Country.

The basis of our political system is the right of the people to make and to alter their constitutions of government.

Such is the turbulence of human passions in party disputes, when victory more than truth is contended for, that the post of honor is a private station.

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.

It is to be lamented that great characters are seldom without a blot.

I walk on untrodden ground. There is scarcely any part of my conduct which may not hereafter be drawn into precedent.

Heaven itself has ordained the right.

No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men, more than the people of the United States. Every step by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some token of Providential agency.

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.

He must be worse than an infidel that lacks faith and more than wicked that has not gratitude enough to acknowledge his obligation.

Worry is the interest paid by those who borrow trouble.

The marvel of all history is the patience with which men and women submit to burdens unnecessarily laid upon them by their governments.

Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism.

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.

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.

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.

Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.

Undertake not what you cannot perform but be careful to keep your promise.

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.

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.

My movements to the chair of government will be accompanied by feelings not unlike those of a culprit who is going to the place of his execution.

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.

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.

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.

Interwoven is the love of liberty with every ligament of the heart.

The aggregate happiness of society, which is best promoted by the practice of a virtuous policy, is, or ought to be, the end of all government.

Gambling is the child of avarice, the brother of iniquity, and the father of mischief.

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.