Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence. -George Washington  February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799

I am persuaded, you will permit me to observe, that the path of true piety is so plain as to require but little political direction. -George Washington  February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799

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. -George Washington  February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799

Friendship is a plant of slow growth and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to the appellation. -George Washington  February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799

Let your Discourse with Men of Business be Short and Comprehensive. -George Washington  February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799

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. -George Washington  February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799

I beg you be persuaded that no one would be more zealous than myself to establish effectual barriers against the horrors of spiritual tyranny, and every species of religious persecution. -George Washington  February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799

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 Washington  February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799

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 Washington  February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799

War – An act of violence whose object is to constrain the enemy, to accomplish our will. -George Washington  February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799

It is impossible to reason without arriving at a Supreme Being. -George Washington  February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799

The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. -George Washington  February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799

I walk on untrodden ground. There is scarcely any part of my conduct which may not hereafter be drawn into precedent. -George Washington  February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799

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  February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799

The basis of our political system is the right of the people to make and to alter their constitutions of government. -George Washington  February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799

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. -George Washington  February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799

When we assumed the Soldier, we did not lay aside the Citizen. -George Washington  February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799

Laws made by common consent must not be trampled on by individuals. -George Washington  February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799

Mankind, when left to themselves, are unfit for their own government. -George Washington  February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799

The time is near at hand which must determine whether Americans are to be free men or slaves. -George Washington  February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799

Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder. -George Washington  February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799

Associate with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation; for it is better to be alone than in bad company. -George Washington  February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799

Happiness and moral duty are inseparably connected. -George Washington  February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799

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 Washington  February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799

Let us raise a standard to which the wise and honest can repair; the rest is in the hands of God. -George Washington  February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799

Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism. -George Washington  February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799

Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence. -George Washington  February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799

Observe good faith and justice toward all nations. Cultivate peace and harmony with all. -George Washington  February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799

If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter. -George Washington  February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799

A slender acquaintance with the world must convince every man that actions, not words, are the true criterion of the attachment of friends. -George Washington  February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799

Over grown military establishments are under any form of government inauspicious to liberty, and are to be regarded as particularly hostile to republican liberty. -George Washington  February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799

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. -George Washington  February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799

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. -George Washington  February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799

Being no bigot myself to any mode of worship, I am disposed to endulge the professors of Christianity in the church, that road to heaven which to them shall seem the most direct plainest easiest and least liable to exception. -George Washington  February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799

I have no other view than to promote the public good, and am unambitious of honors not founded in the approbation of my Country. -George Washington  February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799

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. -George Washington  February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799

Some day, following the example of the United States of America, there will be a United States of Europe. -George Washington  February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799

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 it – but there is only one proper and effectual mode by which it can be accomplished, and that is by Legislative authority: and this, as far as my suffrage will go, shall never be wanting. -George Washington  February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799

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. -George Washington  February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799

Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire, called conscience. -George Washington  February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799

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. -George Washington  February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799

Arbitrary power is most easily established on the ruins of liberty abused to licentiousness. -George Washington  February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799

Let your heart feel for the afflictions and distress of everyone, and let your hand give in proportion to your purse. -George Washington  February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799

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. -George Washington  February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799

Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth. -George Washington  February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799

My first wish is to see this plague of mankind, war, banished from the earth. -George Washington  February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799

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. -George Washington  February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799

Worry is the interest paid by those who borrow trouble. -George Washington  February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799

It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one. -George Washington  February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799

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. -George Washington  February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799

The Constitution is the guide which I never will abandon. -George Washington  February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799

Discipline is the soul of an army. It makes small numbers formidable; procures success to the weak, and esteem to all. -George Washington  February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799

To be prepared for war is one of the most effective means of preserving peace. -George Washington  February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799

It is better to be alone than in bad company. -George Washington  February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799

Truth will ultimately prevail where there is pains to bring it to light. -George Washington  February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799

It is far better to be alone, than to be in bad company. -George Washington  February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799