QUOTES BY GEORGE WASHINGTON

STATUE OF GEORGE WASHINGTON ON HORSE IN VIRGINIA
GEORGE WASHINGTON IMAGE AND NAME
1732-1799

COMMANDER AND CHIEF OF THE CONTINENTAL ARMY

FIRST PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 

SERVED TWO CONSECUTIVE TERMS

George Washington served as Commander of the Continental Army (1775-1783), president of the Constitutional Convention (1787), and became the first president of the United States of America. (1789) He accomplished all of this and much more, having never attended college or received any formal education. Born into a family and culture of slave ownership, he would later change his views on the institution of slavery, raising economic and moral concerns. In his will, Washington set his slaves free but avoided the heated debates of slavery, fearing it would split apart the new fragile country.  To learn more about George Washington, visit the “George Washington`s Mount Vernon” Website.

STATUES OF WASHINGTON
“When one side only of a story is heard and often repeated, the human mind becomes impressed with it insensibly.”
(letter to Edmund Pendleton 1795)

“Knowledge is in every country the surest basis of public happiness.”
(Annual address 1790)

“All Freemasonry should be disbanded in America because our organization has been infiltrated by the Illuminati and they have bad intentions for America and the World.”

“The propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which Heaven itself has ordained….”

“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.”

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

“Religion and morality are the essential pillars of civil society.”

“We must never despair; our situation has been compromising before, and it has changed for the better; so I trust it will again. If difficulties arise, we must put forth new exertion and proportion our efforts to the exigencies of the times.”

“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 the exclusion of religious principles.”

“While all men within our territories are protected in worshipping the Deity according to the dictates of their consciences….”

“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 slavery.”

“I trust the people of every denomination, who demean themselves as good citizens, will have occasion to be convinced that I shall always strive to prove a faithful and impartial Patron of genuine, vital religion.”

“What astonishing changes a few years are capable of producing! I am told that even respectable characters speak of a monarchical form of government without horror. From thinking proceeds speaking, thence to acting is often but a single step. But how irrevocable and tremendous! What a triumph for the advocates of despotism to find that we are incapable of governing ourselves and that systems founded on equal liberty are merely ideal and fallacious! Would to God that wise measures may be taken in time to avert the consequences we have but too much reason to apprehend.”

“To speak evil of anyone, unless there is unequivocal proofs of their deserving it, is an injury for which there is no adequate reparation.”

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

“A people unused to restraint must be led, they will not drove.”

“A good moral character is the first essential in a man? It is therefore highly important that you should endeavor not only to be learned but virtuous.”
(To George Steptoe Washington 1790)

“Let us, therefore, animate and encourage each other, and show the whole world that a Freeman, contending for liberty on his own ground, is superior to any slavish mercenary on earth.”

“Still I hope I shall always possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain (what I consider the most enviable of all titles) the character of an honest man.”
(Letter to Alexander Hamilton, Aug. 28, 1878)

 

“The time is now near at hand which must probably determine whether Americans are to be freemen or slaves; whether they are to have any property they can call their own; whether their houses and farms are to be pillaged and destroyed, and themselves consigned to a state of wretchedness from which no human efforts will deliver them. The fate of unborn millions will now depend, under God, on the courage and conduct of this army. Our cruel and unrelenting enemy leaves us only the choice of brave resistance or the most abject submission. We have, therefore, to resolve to conquer or die.”

“The finite mind of man can never grasp the mysteries of the infinite. It is the highest wisdom, as it is our great happiness, to accept our limitations, to use what we have, and leave the rest to God.”

“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.”

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

“The Constitution that we have is an excellent one if we can keep it where it is.”

“What students would learn in American schools above all is the religion of Jesus Christ.”

“There is nothing so likely to produce peace as to be well prepared to meet the enemy.”

“For happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens.”

“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 afterward the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.”

“We are either a United people, or we are not. If the former, let us, in all matters of general concern act as a nation, which has national objects to promote, and a national character to support. If we are not, let us no longer act a farce by pretending to it.”

“If we are wise, let us prepare for the worst.”

“Have the strength to be an honest person.”

“Oh, eternal and everlasting God, direct my thoughts, words, and work. Wash away my sins in the immaculate blood of the Lamb and purge my heart by Thy Holy Spirit. Daily, frame me more and more in the likeness of Thy son, Jesus Christ, that living in thy fear, and dying in Thy favor, I may in thy appointed time obtain the resurrection of the justified unto eternal life. Bless, O Lord, the whole race of mankind, and let the world be filled with the knowledge of Thee and Thy son, Jesus Christ.”

“A government is like fire, a handy servant, but a dangerous master.”

“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.”
Fifth annual address to congress in 1793)

“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 his personal services to the defense of it, and consequently that the Citizens of America (with a few legal and official exceptions) from 18 to 50 Years of Age should be borne on the Militia Rolls, provided with uniform Arms, and so far accustomed to the use of them, that the Total strength of the Country might be called forth at a short notice on any very interesting Emergency.”
(letter to Alexander Hamilton 1783)

A More Perfect Union: George Washington and the Making of the Constitution (Full Movie) Short but very well made. It lasts about 23 minutes. Click on the title and view on Youtube.

George Washington`s Rules of Civility/ The Patriot Post – LINK

Sources:  https://www.mountvernon.org/http://rotunda.upress.virginia.edu/founders/http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/https://www.azquotes.com/

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