George Washington Quotes (182 Quotes)

My temper leads me to peace and harmony with all men and it is peculiarly my wish to avoid any personal feuds or dissensions with those, who are embarked in the same great national interest with myself, as every difference of this kind in its conseq

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.

far worse than were Congress to enact no measure at all.

Undertake not what you can not perform, but be careful to keep your promises.

While we are contending for our own liberty, we should be very cautious not to violate the rights of conscience in others, ever considering that God alone is the judge of the hearts of men, and to Him only in this case they are answerable

with humanity, and let them have no reason to complain of our copying the brutal example of the British army in their treatment of our unfortunate brethren.

May the Father of All Mercies scatter light, and not darkness, upon our paths and, make us in all our several vocations useful here, and in His own due time and way everlastingly happy

The tumultuous populace of large cities are ever to be dreaded. Their indiscriminate violence prostrates for the time all public authority, and its consequences are sometimes extensive and terrible.

I anticipate with pleasing expectations that retreat in which I promise myself to realize, without alloy, the sweet enjoyment of partaking, in the midst of my fellow citizens, the benign influence of good laws under a free government, the ever favorite object of my heart, and the happy reward, as I trust, of our mutual cares, labors, and dangers.

A government is like fire, a handy servant, but a dangerous master.

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.

As Mankind becomes more liberal, they will be more apt to allow that all those who conduct themselves as worthy members of thecommunity are equally entitled to the protections of civil government. I hope ever to see America among the foremost nations of justice and liberality.

An army of asses led by a lion is better than an army of lions led by an ass.

Experience has taught us that men will not adopt and carry into execution measures the best calculated for their own good without the intervention of a coercive power.

It is well, I die hard, but I am not afraid to go. Dec. 14, 1977

The consciousness of having attempted faithfully to discharge my duty, and the approbation of my Country will be a sufficient recompense for my Services

No man is a warmer advocate for proper restraints and wholesome checks in every department of government than I am but I have never yet been able to discover the propriety of placing it absolutely out of the power of men to render essential services.

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.

In executing the duties of my present important station, I can promise nothing but purity of intentions, and, in carrying these into effect, fidelity and diligence

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.

What we're trying to do is use some of the same legal tactics that have been so effective against the public health problem of smoking against the other public health problem of obesity,

Let your heart feel for the afflictions and distress of everyone, and let your hand give in proportion to your purse.

Mankind, when left to themselves, are unfit for their own government.

My brave fellows, ... you have done all I asked you to do and more than could be reasonably expected. But this country is at stake, your wives, your homes and everything you hold dear. You have borne yourself up with fatigues and hardships, but we know not how to spare you. If you consent to stay one month longer, you will render that service to the cause of liberty and this country which you probably could never do under any other circumstances.

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

We ought to deprecate the hazard attending ardent and susceptible minds, from being too strongly, and too early prepossessed in favor of other political systems, before they are capable of appreciating their own.

In general I esteem it a good maxim, that the best way to preserve the confidence of the people durably is to promote their true interest

I am led to reflect how much more delightful to an undebauched mind, is the task of making improvements on the earth, than all the vain glory which can be acquired from ravaging it, by the most uninterrupted career of conquests.

Let your Discourse with Men of Business be Short and Comprehensive.

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 have occasioned, not ungenerously throwing upon posterity the burthen whic

President Washington's second oath of office was taken in the Senate Chamber of Congress Hall in Philadelphia on March 4, the date fixed by the Continental Congress for inaugurations. Before an assembly of Congressmen, Cabinet officers, judges of the fede.

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

(Liberty) is indeed little less than a name, where the Government is too feeble to withstand the enterprises of faction, to confine each member of society within the limits prescribed by the law, and to maintain all in the secure and tranquil enjoyme

I cannot conceive a rank more honorable, than that which flows from the uncorrupted choice of a brave and free people, the purest source and original fountain of all power

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

Even the country's first president chafed at the limits placed on him by the writers of the U.S. Constitution. From the nature of the Constitution, ... I must approve all the parts of a bill, or reject it in toto.

The bosom of America is open to receive not only the Opulent and respectable Stranger, but the oppressed and persecuted of all Nations And Religions whom we shall welcome to a participation of all our rights and privileges, if by decency and proprie

There is nothing so likely to produce peace as to be well prepared to meet the enemy.

In proportion as the structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened.

Among individuals, the most certain way to make a Man your Enemy, is to tell him you esteem him such so with public bodies

War - An act of violence whose object is to constrain the enemy, to accomplish our will.

Let us raise a standard to which the wise and honest can repair; the rest is in the hands of God.

Why quit our own to stand upon foreign ground Why, by interweaving our destiny with that of any part of Europe, entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of European ambition, rivalship, interest, humor, or caprice It is our true policy to st.

Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth.

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.

We ought not to look back unless it is to derive useful lessons from past errors, and for the purpose of profiting by dear-bought experience.

The name of American, which belongs to you, in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of Patriotism.... It should be the highest ambition of every American to extend his views beyond himself, and to bear in mind that his conduct will not only affect himself, his country, and his immediate posterity but that its influence may be co-extensive with the world, and stamp political happiness or misery on ages yet unborn. --George Washington.

She said she learned at an early age who were the good guys and who were the bad guys and who was going to pick on the weak. ... Sometimes its the people with the most power who are abusing it.

Over grown military establishments are under any form of government inauspicious to liberty, and are to be regarded as particularly hostile to republican liberty.

It is important, likewise, that the habits of thinking in a free Country should inspire caution in those entrusted with its administration, to confine themselves within their respective Constitutional Spheres avoiding in the exercise of the Powers o.