Quotes By George Washington

True friendship is a plant of slow growth, and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity, before it is entitled to the appellation.

The Constitution is the guide which I never will abandon.

Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

The time is near at hand which must determine whether Americans are to be free men or slaves.

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.

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.

Laws made by common consent must not be trampled on by individuals.

Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder.

It is impossible to account for the creation of the universe without the agency of a Supreme Being.

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

Arbitrary power is most easily established on the ruins of liberty abused to licentiousness.

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.

Being no bigot myself to any mode of worship, I am disposed to indulge 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.

I walk on untrodden ground. There is scarcely any part of my conduct which may not hereafter be drawn into precedent.

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.