The Personal Website of Mark W. Dawson

My Favorite Quotes of George Washington

George Washington was not an intellectual person. In most things he was self-taught (an autodidact) or learned through experience. His autodidacticism served him well and his life experience was extensive. He was a man of few words and writings, but what he said and wrote was full of wisdom. Here are my favorite quotes of George Washington:

“99% of failures come from people who make excuses.”
 - George Washington

“A pack of jackasses led by a lion is superior to a pack of lions led by a jackass.”
 - George Washington

“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

“Arbitrary power is most easily established on the ruins of liberty abused to licentiousness.”
 - George Washington

“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

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

“But if the laws are to be so trampled upon with impunity, and a minority is to dictate to the majority, there is an end put at one stroke to republican government, and nothing but anarchy and confusion is to be expected thereafter.”
 - George Washington

“Do not let anyone claim tribute of American patriotism if they even attempt to remove religion from politics.”
 - George Washington

“Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder.”
 - George Washington

“Firearms stand next in importance to the Constitution itself.”
 - George Washington

“Government is at best a petulant servant and at worst a tyrannical master.”
 - George Washington

“Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.
 - George Washington

“Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism.”
 - George Washington

“Happiness and moral duty are inseparably connected.”
 - George Washington

“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.”
 - George Washington

“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

“If ever again our nation stumbles upon unfunded paper, it shall surely be like death to our body politic. This country will crash.”
 - George Washington

“If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.”
 - George Washington

“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

“It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one.”
 - George Washington

“It is far better to be alone, than to be in bad company.”
 - George Washington

“It is impossible to govern the world without God. It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the Providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits and humbly implore his protection and favor”
 - George Washington

“It is impossible to reason without arriving at a Supreme Being.”
 - George Washington

“Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire, called conscience.”
 - George Washington

“Laws made by common consent must not be trampled on by individuals.”
 - George Washington

“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

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

“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

“Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth.”
 - George Washington

“Make sure you are doing what God wants you to do--then do it with all your strength.”
 - George Washington

“My first wish is to see this plague of mankind, war, banished from the earth”
 - George Washington

“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

“Occupants of public offices love power and are prone to abuse it.”
 - George Washington

“The basis of our political system is the right of the people to make and to alter their constitutions of government.”
 - George Washington

“The Constitution is the guide which I never will abandon.”
 - George Washington

“The future of this nation depends on the Christian training of our youth.”
 - George Washington

“The last official act of any government is to loot the treasury.”
 - George Washington

“The time is near at hand which must determine whether Americans are to be free men or slaves.”
 - George Washington

“To be prepared for war is one of the most effective means of preserving peace.”
 - 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.”
 - George Washington

“Truth will ultimately prevail where there is pains taken to bring it to light.”
 - George Washington

“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

“When one side only of a story is heard and often repeated, the human mind becomes impressed with it insensibly.”
 - George Washington

“When we assumed the Soldier, we did not lay aside the Citizen.”
 - George Washington

“Where are our Men of abilities? Why do they not come forth to save their Country?”
 - George Washington

“Worry is the interest paid by those who borrow trouble.”
 - George Washington