Introduction
George Washington was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father. He served as the first American President from 1789 to 1797. We compiled a selection of his quotes that we share on this Fourth of July Independence Day. We hope that you enjoy them.
Quotes by George Washington
“99% of failures come from people who make excuses.”
“Associate yourself with men of good quality, if you esteem your own reputation; for ‘tis better to be alone than in bad company.”
“A slender acquaintance with the world must convince every man that actions, not words, are the true criterion of the attachment of friends.”
“Arbitrary power is most easily established on the ruins of liberty abused to licentiousness.”
“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 and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to appellation. “
“Be not glad at the misfortune of another, though he may be your enemy.”
“Be not hasty to believe flying reports to the disparagement of any.”
“But lest some unlucky event should happen unfavorable to my reputation, I beg it may be remembered by every gentleman in the room that I this day declare with the utmost sincerity, I do not think myself equal to the command I am honored with.”
“Decision making, like coffee, needs a cooling process.”
“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. “
“Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder.”
“Happiness depends more upon the internal frame of a person’s own mind, than on the externals in the world.”
“Human happiness and moral duty are inseparably connected.”
“I conceive a knowledge of books is the basis upon which other knowledge is to be built.”
“I had rather be on my farm than be emperor of the world.”
“I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to private affairs, that honesty is always the best policy.”
“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.”
“If freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.”
“If the cause is advanced, indifferent is it to me where or in what quarter it happens.”
“In politics as in philosophy, my tenets are few and simple. The leading one of which, and indeed that which embraces most others, is to be honest and just ourselves and to exact it from others, meddling as little as possible in their affairs where our own are not involved. If this maxim was generally adopted, wars would cease and our swords would soon be converted into reap hooks and our harvests be more peaceful, abundant, and happy.”
“It is a much easier and less distressing thing to draw remonstrances in a comfortable room by a good fireside than to occupy a cold bleak hill and sleep under frost and snow without cloaths or blankets.”
“It is better to be alone than in bad company.”
“It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one.”
“Let your conversation be without malice or envy, for it is a sign of a tractable and commendable nature; and in all cases of passion admit reason to govern.”
“Much was to be done by prudence, much by conciliation, much by firmness.”
“Perseverance and spirit have done wonders in all ages.”
“Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principles.”
“Show not yourself glad at the misfortune of another though he were your enemy.”
“Speak not injurious words neither in jest nor earnest; scoff at none although they give occasion.”
“System to all things is the soul of business. To execute properly and act maturely is the way to conduct it to your advantage.”
“There is nothing so likely to produce peace as to be well prepared to meet the enemy”
“Things in life will not always run smoothly. Sometimes we will be rising toward the heights, then all will seem to reverse itself and start downward. The great fact to remember is that the trend of civilization itself is forever upward, that a line drawn through the middle of the peaks and the valleys of the centuries always has an upward trend.”
“Those who have committed no faults want no pardon. We are only defending what we deem our indisputable rights.”
“To persevere in one’s duty, and be silent is the best answer to calumny.”
“We must consult our means rather than our wishes.”
“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. “
“Worry is the interest paid by those who borrow trouble.”
