Top 35 George Washington Quotes

Happiness and moral duty are inseparably connected.

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

Discipline is the soul of an army. It makes small numbers formidable; procures success to the weak, and esteem to all.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

Observe good faith and justice toward all nations. Cultivate peace and harmony with all.

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 basis of our political system is the right of the people to make and to alter their constitutions of government.

It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one.

It will be found an unjust and unwise jealousy to deprive a man of his natural liberty upon the supposition he may abuse it.

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.

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.

My first wish is to see this plague of mankind, war, banished from the earth.

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.

The Constitution is the guide which I never will abandon.

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.

Associate with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation; for it is better to be alone than in bad company.

Some day, following the example of the United States of America, there will be a United States of Europe.

It is impossible to reason without arriving at a Supreme Being.

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

It is better to be alone than in bad company.

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.

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.

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

Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism.

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

Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire, called conscience.

Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder.