George Washington Quotes

379 Sourced Quotes

Even respectable characters speak of a monarchical form of government without horror.

George Washington
Peace with all the world is my sincere wish. I am sure it is our true policy, and am persuaded it is the ardent desire of the government.

George Washington
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.

George Washington
From thinking proceeds speaking; thence to acting is often but a single step. But how irrevocable and tremendous!

George Washington
[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.

George Washington
I earnestly pray that the Omnipotent Being who has not deserted the cause of America in the hour of its extremest hazard, will never yield so fair a heritage of freedom a prey to 'Anarchy' or 'Despotism'.

George Washington
A hundred thousand men, coming one after another, cannot move a Ton weight; but the united strength of 50 would transport it with ease.

George Washington
It is an old adage that honesty is the best policy-this applies to public as well as private life-to States as well as individuals.

George Washington
But if the laws are to be so trampled upon with impunity, and a minority is to dictate to the majority, there is an end put at one stroke to republican government, and nothing but anarchy and confusion is to be expected thereafter...

George Washington
The Arts and Sciences, essential to the prosperity of the State and to the ornament of human life, have a primary claim to the encouragement of every lover of his country and mankind.

George Washington
Offensive operations, often times, is the surest, if not the only means of defence.

George Washington
I wish to walk in such a line as will give most general satisfaction.

George Washington
If the minority, and a small one too, is suffered to dictate to the majority, after measures have undergone the most solemn discussions by the representatives of the people, and their will through this medium is enacted into a law, there can be no security for life, liberty, or property; nor, if the laws are not to govern, can any man know how to conduct himself in safety.

George Washington
To constitute a dispute there must be two parties. To understand it well, both parties and all the circumstances must be fully heard; and to accommodate the differences, temper and mutual forbearance are requisite.

George Washington
To me, it appears no unjust simile to compare the affairs of this great Continent to the mechanism of a clock, each state representing some one or other of the smaller parts of it which they are endeavoring to put in fine order without considering how useless & unavailing their labor is unless the great Wheel or Spring which is to set the whole in motion is also well attended to & kept in good order.

George Washington
If we mean to support the liberty and independence which has cost us so much blood and treasure to establish, we must drive far away the demon of party spirit and local reproach.

George Washington
I am just going. Have me decently buried; and do not let my body be put into the Vault in less than three days after I am dead.... Tis well.

George Washington
Europe has a set of primary interests, which to us have none, or a very remote relation. Hence she must be engaged in frequent controversies, the causes of which are essentially foreign to our concerns. Hence, therefore, it must be unwise in us to implicate ourselves, by artificial ties, in the ordinary vicissitudes of her politics or the ordinary combinations and collisions of her friendships or enmities.

George Washington
It is a maxim, founded on the universal experience of mankind, that no nation is to be trusted farther than it is bound by its interest; and no prudent statesman or politician will venture to depart from it.

George Washington
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...His Divine blessing may be equally conspicuous in...the wise measures on which the success of this government must depend.

George Washington
At this auspicious period, the United States came into existence as a Nation; and if their Citizens should not be completely free and happy, the fault will be entirely their own.

George Washington
Nothing is too extravagant to expect from men who conceive they are ungratefully and unjustly dealt by.

George Washington
Though, 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
Men's minds are as variant as their faces. Where the motives of their actions are pure, the operation of the former is no more to be imputed to them as a crime, than the appearance of the latter; for both, being the work of nature, are alike unavoidable.

George Washington
The company in which you will improve most will be least expensive to you.

George Washington
I consider it an indubitable mark of mean-spiritedness and pitiful vanity to court applause from the pen or tongue of man.

George Washington
The best and only safe road to honor, glory, and true dignity is justice.

George Washington
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.

George Washington
I am not only retired from all public employments, but I am retiring within myself, and shall be able to view the solitary walk and tread the paths of private life with heartfelt satisfaction.

George Washington
It is among the evils, and perhaps not the smallest, of democratical governments, that the people must feel before they will see. When this happens they are roused to action. Hence it is that those kinds of government are so slow.

George Washington