George Washington
Commander of the Continental Army and first President of the United States.
Quotes
A free people ought not only to be armed, but disciplined; to which end a uniform and well-digested plan is requisite; and their safety and interest require that they should promote such manufactories as tend to render them independent of others for essential, particularly military, supplies.
SourceFirst Annual Address, to both Houses of Congress, January 8, 1790 · Mount Vernon Ladies' Association on George Washington's Mount Vernon
If in the opinion of the People, the distribution or modification of the Constitutional powers be in any particular wrong, let it be corrected by an amendment in the way which the Constitution designates. But let there be no change by usurpation; for though this, in one instance, may be the instrument of good, it is the customary weapon by which free governments are destroyed.
SourceFarewell Address to the People of the United States · National Archives on Founders Online
There can be no greater error than to expect, or calculate upon real favours from Nation to Nation.
SourceFarewell Address · National Archives on Founders Online
Nothing is a greater stranger to my breast, or a sin that my soul more abhors, than that black and detestable one, ingratitude.
SourceLetter to Governor Dinwiddie · Mount Vernon Ladies' Association on George Washington's Mount Vernon
The right wing, where I stood, was exposed to and received all the enemy's fire ... I heard the bullets whistle, and, believe me, there is something charming in the sound.
SourceLetter to his brother, John A. Washington · National Archives on Founders Online
I shall wear the Medal you were pleasd to Compli[men]t me with, with great pleasure; and shall present the other’s to Indian Chiefs as I have already done one to the Half King. I am particularly obligd in your favour of the Rum out of your own private Store I shall allways remember my duty in drinking of it and then your Honour’s health can never be forgot.
SourceGeorge Washington to Robert Dinwiddie · National Archives on Founders Online
By the all-powerful dispensations of Providence, I have been protected beyond all human probability and expectation; for I had four bullets through my coat, and two horses shot under me, yet escaped unhurt, altho' death was levelling my companions on every side.
SourceGEORGE WASHINGTON, letter to John A. Washington, Jul. 18, 1755 · National Archives on Founders Online
I shall make it the most agreeable part of my duty to study merit, and reward the brave and deserving.
SourceAddress to the Officers of the Virginia Regiment · National Archives on Founders Online
Remember that it is the actions, and not the commission, that make the officer, and that there is more expected from him, than the title.
SourceAddress to the Officers of the Virginia Regiment · Mount Vernon Ladies' Association on George Washington's Mount Vernon
A man's intentions should be allowed in some respects to plead for his actions.
SourceLetter to the Speaker of the House of Burgesses · National Archives on Founders Online
I have diligently sought the public welfare; and have endeavoured to inculcate the same principles in all that are under me. These reflections will be a cordial to my mind as long as I am able to distinguish between Good & Evil.
SourceLetter to the Speaker of the House of Burgesses, John Robinson · National Archives on Founders Online
It is with pleasure I receive reproof, when reproof is due, because no person can be readier to accuse me, than I am to acknowledge an error, when I am guilty of one; nor more desirous of atoning for a crime, when I am sensible of having committed it.
SourceLetter to Governor Dinwiddie, Aug. 27, 1757 · National Archives on Founders Online
There is a Destiny which has the control of our actions, not to be resisted by the strongest efforts of Human Nature.
SourceLetter to Mrs. George William Fairfax · Mount Vernon Ladies' Association on George Washington's Mount Vernon
At a time, when our lordly masters in Great Britain will be satisfied with nothing less than the deprivation of American freedom, it seems highly necessary that something should be done to avert the stroke, and maintain the liberty, which we have derived from our ancestors. But the manner of doing it, to answer the purpose effectually, is the point in question. That no man should scruple, or hesitate a moment, to use arms in defence of so valuable a blessing, on which all the good and evil of life depends, is clearly my opinion. Yet arms, I would beg leave to add, should be the last resource, the dernier resort. Addresses to the throne, and remonstrances to Parliament, we have already, it is said, proved the inefficacy of. How far, then, their attention to our rights and privileges is to be awakened or alarmed, by starving their trade and manufacturers, remains to be tried
SourceLetter to George Mason · Mount Vernon Ladies' Association on George Washington's Mount Vernon
A natural parent has only two things principally to consider, the improvement of his son, and the finances to do it with.
SourceLetter to Dr. Boucher · Mount Vernon Ladies' Association on George Washington's Mount Vernon
The ways of Providence being inscrutable, and the justice of it not to be scanned by the shallow eye of humanity, nor to be counteracted by the utmost efforts of human power or wisdom, resignation, and as far as the strength of our reason and religion can carry us, a cheerful acquiescence to the Divine Will, is what we are to aim.
SourceLetter to Colonel Bassett · National Archives on Founders Online
in short the Ministry may rely on it that Americans will never be tax'd without their own consent that the cause of Boston the despotick Measures in respect to it I mean now is and ever will be considerd as the cause of America (not that we approve their cond[uc]t in destroyg the Tea) & that we shall not suffer ourselves to be sacrificed by piecemeal though god only knows what is to become of us, threatned as we are with so many hoverg evils as hang over us at present
SourceFrom George Washington to George William Fairfax · National Archives on Founders Online
I retain an unalterable affection for you, which neither time or distance can change.
SourceGeorge Washington to Martha Washington · National Archives on Founders Online
I shall not be deprived ... of a comfort in the worst event, if I retain a consciousness of having acted to the best of my judgment.
Sourceletter to Colonel Bassett, Jun. 19, 1775 · Mount Vernon Ladies' Association on George Washington's Mount Vernon
...every post is honorable in which a man can serve his country.
SourceLetter to Benedict Arnold · National Archives on Founders Online
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.
SourceLetter to Benedict Arnold · Mount Vernon Ladies' Association on George Washington's Mount Vernon
I can bear to hear of imputed or real errors. The man who wishes to stand well in the opinion of others must do this; because he is thereby enabled to correct his faults, or remove prejudices which are imbibed against him.
SourceLetter to Joseph Reed, Jan. 14, 1776 · Mount Vernon Ladies' Association on George Washington's Mount Vernon
Three things prompt men to a regular discharge of their duty in time of action: natural bravery, hope of reward, and fear of punishment.
SourceLetter to the President of Congress, Feb. 9, 1776 · National Archives on Founders Online
Let us therefore animate and encourage each other, and show the whole world that a Freeman, contending for liberty on his own ground, is superior to any slavish mercenary on earth.
SourceGeneral Orders · National Archives on Founders Online
The time is now near at hand which must probably determine whether Americans are to be freemen or slaves; whether they are to have any property they can call their own; whether their houses and farms are to be pillaged and destroyed, and themselves consigned to a state of wretchedness from which no human efforts will deliver them. The fate of unborn millions will now depend, under God, on the courage and conduct of this army. Our cruel and unrelenting enemy leaves us only the choice of brave resistance, or the most abject submission. We have, therefore, to resolve to conquer or die.
SourceGeneral Orders · National Archives on Founders Online
...something is due to the Man who puts his life in his hand?hazards his health?& forsakes the Sweets of domestic enjoyments...
SourceFrom George Washing to John Hancock · Mount Vernon Ladies' Association on George Washington's Mount Vernon
My brave fellows, you have done all I asked you to do, and more than can be reasonably expected; but your country is at stake, your wives, your houses and all that you hold dear. You have worn yourselves out with fatigues and hardships, but we know not how to spare you. If you will consent to stay one month longer, you will render that service to the cause of liberty, and to your country, which you probably can never do under any other circumstances.
SourceWashington, encouraging his men to re-enlist in the army · Mount Vernon Ladies' Association on George Washington's Mount Vernon
...a people unused to restraint must be led, they will not be drove.
SourceGeorge Washington to Major General Stirling · National Archives on Founders Online
We should never despair, our Situation before has been unpromising and has changed for the better, so I trust, it will again. If new difficulties arise, we must only put forth New Exertions and proportion our Efforts to the exigency of the times.
SourceLetter to Major General Philip Schuyler · Mount Vernon Ladies' Association on George Washington's Mount Vernon
Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder.
SourceLetter to Major-General Robert Howe · National Archives on Founders Online
There is nothing so likely to produce peace as to be well prepared to meet an enemy.
SourceLetter to Elbridge Gerry · National Archives on Founders Online
Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence—true friendship is a plant of slow growth, and must undergo & withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to the appellation.
SourceFrom George Washington to Bushrod Washington · National Archives on Founders Online
avoid Gaming—This is a vice which is productive of every possible evil. equally injurious to the Morals & health of its votaries—It is the child of Avarice—the brother of inequity—& father of Mischief—It has been the Ruin of many worthy familys—the loss of many a mans honor—& the cause of Suicide.
SourceGeorge Washington to Bushrod Washington, 15 January 1783 · Mount Vernon Ladies' Association on George Washington's Mount Vernon
For if Men are to be precluded from offering their Sentiments on a matter, which may involve the most serious and alarming consequences, that can invite the consideration of Mankind, reason is of no use to us; the freedom of Speech may be taken away, and, dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep, to the Slaughter.
SourceAddress to the Officers of the Army · National Archives on Founders Online
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.
SourceStatement while delivering response to the first Newburgh Address · Mount Vernon Ladies' Association on George Washington's Mount Vernon
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 his personal services to the defence of it, and consequently that the Citizens of America (with a few legal and official exceptions) from 18 to 50 Years of Age should be borne on the Militia Rolls, provided with uniform Arms, and so far accustomed to the use of them, that the Total strength of the Country might be called forth at a Short Notice on any very interesting Emergency.
SourceLetter to Alexander Hamilton · National Archives on Founders Online
...arbitrary power is most easily established on the ruins of liberty abused to licentiousness.
Source"Circular to the States" · National Archives on Founders Online
I now make it my earnest prayer, that God would have you, and the State over which you preside, in his holy protection, that he would incline the hearts of the Citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to Government, to entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another, for their fellow Citizens of the United States at large, and particularly for their brethren who have served in the Field, and finally, that he would most graciously be pleased to dispose us all, to do Justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that Charity, humility and pacific temper of mind, which were the Characteristicks of the Divine Author of our blessed Religion, and without an humble imitation of whose example in these things, we can never hope to be a happy Nation.
SourceCircular to the States · National Archives on Founders Online
Having now finished the work assigned me, I retire from the great theatre of Action.
SourceAddress to Congress resigning his commission · National Archives on Founders Online
At length my Dear Marquis I am become a private citizen on the banks of the Potomac, & under the shadow of my own Vine & my own Fig tree, free from the bustle of a camp & the busy scenes of public life...I am not only retired from all public employments, but I am retireing within myself; & shall be able to view the solitary walk, & tread the paths of private life with heartfelt satisfaction—Envious of none, I am determined to be pleased with all. & this my dear friend, being the order for my march, I will move gently down the stream of life, until I sleep with my Fathers."
SourceGeorge Washington to the Marquis de Lafayette · National Archives on Founders Online
I will not give up the hope of seeing you at Mount Vernon, before I quit the stage of human action—the idea woud be too painful—I must indulge a contrary one.
SourceFrom George Washington to Chastellux · National Archives on Founders Online
...happiness depends more upon the internal frame of a persons own mind—than on the externals in the world
SourceFrom George Washington to Mary Ball Washington · National Archives on Founders Online
For I love to indulge the contemplation of human nature in a progressive state of improvement and melioration: and if the idea would not be considered as visionary and chimerical, I could fondly hope that the present plan of the great Potentate of the North [Catherine the Great], might, in some measure, lay the foundation for that assimilation of language, which, producing assimilation of manners and interests, should one day remove many of the causes of hostility from amongst mankind.
SourceGeorge Washington to the Marquis de Lafayette · National Archives on Founders Online
Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth.
SourceLetter to James Madison · National Archives on Founders Online
I had always hoped that this land might become a safe & agreeable Asylum to the virtuous & persecuted part of mankind, to whatever nation they might belong
SourceGeorge Washington to Francis Adrian Van der Kemp · National Archives on Founders Online
heroes have made poets, and poets heroes.
SourceGeorge Washington to Lafayette · National Archives on Founders Online
Still 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.
SourceGeorge Washington to Alexander Hamilton · National Archives on Founders Online
For myself, the delay may be compared to a reprieve; for in confidence I can assure you—with the world it would obtain little credit—that my movements to the chair of Government will be accompanied with feelings not unlike those of a culprit who is going to the place of his execution
SourceFrom George Washington to Henry Knox · National Archives on Founders Online
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.
SourceFirst Inaugural Address · National Archives on Founders Online
...the consideration that human happiness and moral duty are inseparably connected, will always continue to prompt me to promote the progress of the former, by inculcating the practice of the latter.
SourceFrom George Washington to the Protestant Episcopal Church · National Archives on Founders Online
To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace.
SourceFirst Annual Address, to both Houses of Congress · National Archives on Founders Online
Knowledge is in every country the surest basis of public happiness.
SourceFirst Annual Address · National Archives on Founders Online
All see, and most admire, the glare which hovers round the external trappings of elevated office. To me there is nothing in it, beyond the lustre which may be reflected from its connection with a power of promoting human felicity.
SourceLetter to Catherine Macaulay Graham · National Archives on Founders Online
I can truly say I had rather be at Mount Vernon with a friend or two about me, than to be attended at the Seat of Government by the Officers of State and the Representatives of every Power in Europe...
SourceGeorge Washington to David Stuart · National Archives on Founders Online
For happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens, in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.
SourceFrom George Washington to the Hebrew Congregation in Newport, Rhode Island · National Archives on Founders Online
...a good moral character is the first essential in a man...It is therefore highly important that you should endeavor not only to be learned but virtuous.
SourceTo George Steptoe Washington · National Archives on Founders Online
...it is better to offer no excuse than a bad one.
SourceFrom George Washington to Harriot Washington · National Archives on Founders Online
Of all the animosities which have existed among mankind, those which are caused by a difference of sentiments in religion appear to be the most inveterate and distressing, and ought most to be deprecated.
SourceLetter to Sir Edward Newenham · National Archives on Founders Online
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.
SourceFifth Annual Address to Congress · Mount Vernon Ladies' Association on George Washington's Mount Vernon
Truth will ultimately prevail where pains is taken to bring it to light.
SourceLetter to Charles M. Thruston · National Archives on Founders Online
Love is a mighty pretty thing; but like all other delicious things, it is cloying; and when the first transports of the passion begins to subside, which it assuredly will do, and yield—oftentimes too late—to more sober reflections, it serves to evince, that love is too dainty a food to live upon alone, and ought not to be considered farther, than as a necessary ingredient for that matrimonial happiness which results from a combination of causes; none of which are of greater importance, than that the object on whom it is placed, should possess good sense—good dispositions—and the means of supporting you in the way you have been brought up.
SourceGeorge Washington to Elizabeth Parke Custis · National Archives on Founders Online
..when one side only of a story is heard, and often repeated, the human mind becomes impressed with it, insensibly
SourceLetter to Edmund Pendleton · National Archives on Founders Online
As a very important source of strength and security, cherish public credit. One method of preserving it is, to use it as sparingly as possible; avoiding occasions of expense by cultivating peace, but remembering also that timely disbursements to prepare for danger frequently prevent much greater disbursements to repel it; 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.
SourceFarewell Address · Mount Vernon Ladies' Association on George Washington's Mount Vernon
However [political parties] may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.
SourceFarewell Address · National Archives on Founders Online
I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to private affairs, that honesty is the best policy.
SourceFarewell Address to the People of the United States · National Archives on Founders Online
It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliance with any portion of the foreign world.
SourceFarewell Address to the People of the United States · National Archives on Founders Online
Citizens by birth or choice, of a common country, that country has a right to concentrate your affections. The name of AMERICAN, which belongs to you, in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of Patriotism, more than any appellation derived from local discriminations.
SourceFarewell Address to the People of the United States · National Archives on Founders Online
One of the expedients of party to acquire influence, within particular districts, is to misrepresent the opinions & aims of other Districts.
SourceFarewell Address · National Archives on Founders Online
It is important ... 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 of one department to encroach upon another.
SourceFarewell Address to the People of the United States · National Archives on Founders Online
The situation in which I now stand, for the last time, in the midst of the Representatives of the People of the United States, naturally recalls the period when the Administration of the present form of Government commenced; and I cannot omit the occasion, to congratulate you and my Country, on the success of the experiment
SourceGeorge Washington, Eighth Annual Message to Congress · National Archives on Founders Online
...without Virtue & without integrity, the finest talents & the most briliant accomplishments can never gain the respect or conciliate the Esteem of the truly valuable part of mankind.
SourceWashington to Bartholomew Dandridge · Mount Vernon Ladies' Association on George Washington's Mount Vernon
Unless some one pops in, unexpectedly, Mrs. Washington and myself will do what I believe has not been [done] within the last twenty years by us, that is to set down to dinner by ourselves.
SourceGeorge Washington to Tobias Lear · National Archives on Founders Online
System in all things is the soul of business. To deliberate maturely, & execute promptly is the way to conduct it to advantage. With me, it has always been a maxim, rather to let my designs appear from my works, than by my expressions.
SourceGeorge Washington to James Anderson · National Archives on Founders Online
...the hours allotted for study, if really applied to it, instead of running up & down stairs, & wasted in conversation with any one who will talk with you, will enable you to make considerable progress in whatsoever line is marked out for you: and that you may do it, is my sincere wish
SourceGeorge Washington to George Washington Parke Custis · National Archives on Founders Online
It is infinitely better to have a few good Men, than many indifferent ones.
SourceLetter to James McHenry · National Archives on Founders Online
To contract new debts is not the way to pay old ones.
SourceLetter to James Welch · National Archives on Founders Online
Tis well.
SourceWashington's last words, as recorded by Tobias Lear · National Archives on Founders Online