George Washington Quotes
February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799
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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.
George Washington
If they have real grievances redress them, if possible; or acknowledge the justice of them, and your inability to do it at the moment. If they have not, employ the force of government against them at once.
George WashingtonLetter to Henry Lee (31 October 1786).
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.
George WashingtonGeorge Washington, general orders, (6 July 1777), published in The Writings of George Washington (1933), edited by John C. Fitzpatrick, vol. 8, p. 359
Every post is honorable in which a man can serve his country.
George WashingtonLetter to Benedict Arnold (14 September 1775).
There is nothing that gives a man consequence, and renders him fit for command, like a support that renders him independent of everybody but the State he serves.
George WashingtonLetter to the president of Congress, Heights of Harlem (24 September 1776).
Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder.
George WashingtonLetter to Major-General Robert Howe (17 August 1779), published in "The Writings of George Washington": 1778-1779, edited by Worthington Chauncey Ford (1890)Paraphrased variants:Few men have the virtue to withstand the highest bidder.Few men have virtue enough to withstand the highest bidder.
It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one.
George WashingtonLetter to his niece, Harriet Washington (30 October 1791).
Parade with me my brave fellows, we will have them soon!
George WashingtonRallying his troops at the Battle of Princeton (3 January 1777).
True friendship is a plant of slow growth, and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to the appellation.
George WashingtonLetter to Bushrod Washington (15 January 1783).
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.
George WashingtonStatement as he put on his glasses before delivering his response to the first Newburgh Address (15 March 1783).
Happiness and moral duty are inseparably connected.
George WashingtonLetter, dated August 19th, 1789, To the Bishops, Clergy, and Laity of the Protestant Episcopal church in the States of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina, in general Convention assembled. Scan at memory.loc.gov.
Religious controversies are always productive of more acrimony and irreconcilable hatreds than those which spring from any other cause; and I was not without hopes that the enlightened and liberal policy of the present age would have put an effectual stop to contentions of this kind.
George WashingtonLetter to Sir Edward Newenham (22 June 1792) as published in The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources (1939) as edited by John Clement Fitzpatrick
Make the most of the Indian hemp seed, and sow it everywhere!
George WashingtonGeorge Washington in a note to his gardener at Mount Vernon (1794), The Writings of George Washington, Volume 33, page 270 (Library of Congress).
Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder.
George WashingtonGeorge Washington, Moral Maxims, Virtue and Vice, The Trial of Virtue.
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.
George WashingtonGeorge Washington, fifth annual address to Congress, December 13, 1793.—The Writings of George Washington, ed. John C. Fitzpatrick, vol. 33, p. 166 (1940).
My first wish is, to see this plague of mankind banished from the earth, and the sons and daughters of this world employed in more pleasing and innocent amusements, than in preparing implements, and exercising them, for the destruction of mankind.
George WashingtonOn war, in a statement of 1785, as quoted in Maxims of Washington : Political, Social, Moral and Religious (1854) John Frederick Schroeder, p. 142.
As mankind become 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 protection of civil Government. I hope ever to see America among the foremost nations in examples of justice and liberality.
George WashingtonLetter to Roman Catholics (15 March 1790).
I hope I shall always possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an "Honest Man."
George WashingtonGeorge Washington, Moral Maxims
Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire, called Conscience.
George WashingtonGeorge Washington, Moral Maxims, Virtue and Vice, Conscience.
WHEREAS 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 favour; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me "to recommend to the people of the United States a DAY OF PUBLICK THANKSGIVING and PRAYER, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness."
George WashingtonThe First Presidential Thanksgiving Day Proclamation (3 October 1789)
If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.
George Washington
Observe good faith and justice toward all nations. Cultivate peace and harmony with all.
George Washington
