The first US president, George Washington, was also the Founding Father of the United States of America and a military officer.
He was born on February 22, 1732, in the British colony of Virginia in North America. The Washington family were notable planters in the state, cultivating tobacco.
George Washington is a celebrated American leader, officer, and politician. However, there is also some undeniable criticism directed toward him due to the treatment of Native Americans.
He is also commended for leading the creation and ratification of the federal government of America and the US Constitution. Both his military and political success was the outcome of his exceptional leadership skills that inspired people to follow his vision of establishing and then redefining America.
Here you will find a wide collection of George Washington quotes highlighting his perception of leaders, success, and the world. You can come across his famous sayings that have inspired generations of Americans and American politics.
Inspirational George Washington Quotes
Inspirational George Washington quotes in a list.
“It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one.”
“If freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.”
"In a republic, what species of knowledge can be equally important? And what duty more pressing than communicating it to those who are to be the future guardians of the liberties of the country?"
“Human happiness and moral duty are inseparably connected.”
“99% of failures come from people who make excuses.”
"The foolish and wicked practice of profane cursing and swearing is a vice so mean and low that every person of sense and character detests and despises it."
"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."
"Arbitrary power is most easily established on the ruins of liberty abused to licentiousness."
"War – An act of violence whose object is to constrain the enemy, to accomplish our will."
“Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism.”
“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.”
“Worry is the interest paid by those who borrow trouble.”
“The turning points of lives are not the great moments. The real crises are often concealed in occurrences so trivial in appearance that they pass unobserved.”
“I conceive a knowledge of books is the basis upon which other knowledge is to be built.”
“Be not glad at the misfortune of another, though he may be your enemy.”
"Associate yourself with men of good quality, if you esteem your own reputation; for ‘tis better to be alone than in bad company."
"When one side only of a story is heard and often repeated, the human mind becomes impressed with it insensibly."
“It is substantially true, that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government. The rule, indeed, extends with more or less force to every species of free government.”
“[death]...the abyss from where no traveler is permitted to return”
"The Hand of providence has been so conspicuous in all this, that he must be worse than an infidel that lacks faith, and more than wicked, that has not gratitude enough to acknowledge his obligations."
Famous George Washington Quotes
Read the most famous George Washington quotes here.
“It is better to be alone than in bad company.”
“Observe good faith and justice toward all nations. Cultivate peace and harmony with all nations.”
"True friendship is a plant of slow growth, and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to appellation."
“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.”
“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.”
"My first wish is to see this plague of mankind, war, banished from the earth."
“Having now finished the work assigned me, I retire from the great theatre of Action; and bidding an Affectionate farewell to this August body under whose orders I have so long acted, I here offer my commission, and take my leave of all the employments of public life.”
"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."
"Religion is as necessary to reason as reason is to religion. The one cannot exist without the other."
"A slender acquaintance with the world must convince every man that actions, not words, are the true criterion of the attachment of friends."
“Perseverance and spirit have done wonders in all ages.”
“Happiness depends more upon the internal frame of a person’s own mind, than on the externals in the world.”
"Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder."
“the harder the conflict, the greater the triumph.”
"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."
"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."
“We must consult our means rather than our wishes.”
"But if we are to be told by a foreign power what we shall do, and what we shall not do, we have Independence yet to seek, and have contended hitherto for very little."
'Gentlemen, you will permit me to put on my spectacles, for, I have grown not only gray but almost blind in the service of my country."
"The foundations of our national policy will be laid in the pure and immutable principles of private morality, and the preeminence of free government be exemplified by all the attributes which can win the affections of its citizens, and command the respect of the world."
“Be courteous to all, but intimate with few; and let those be well-tried before you give them your confidence.”
“To encourage literature and the arts is a duty which every good citizen owes to his country.”
"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."
“Paper money has had the effect in your state that it will ever have, to ruin commerce, oppress the honest, and open the door to every species of fraud and injustice.”
“To persevere in one's duty, and be silent is the best answer to calumny”
“Let your heart feel for the afflictions and distress of everyone.”
"I hope ever to see America among the foremost nations of justice and liberality."
“no punishment, in my opinion, is to great, for the man who can build his greatness upon his country's ruin”
“...overgrown military establishments, which, under any form of government, are inauspicious to liberty, and which are to be regarded as particularly hostile to Republican Liberty.”
“I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to private affairs, that honesty is always the best policy.”
“Decision making, like coffee, needs a cooling process.”
“I'll die on my feet before I'll live on my knees!”
“LIBERTY, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth.”
“Arbitrary power is most easily established on the ruins of liberty abused to licentiousness.”
“Wherein you reprove another be unblameable yourself, for example is more prevalent than precepts.”
George Washington Quotes On Leadership
The best George Washington quotes on Leadership to brighten your day.
"Laws made by common consent must not be trampled on by individuals."
"A primary object should be the education of our youth in the science of government."
“There is nothing so likely to produce peace as to be well prepared to meet the enemy”
“A free people ought not only to be armed but disciplined; to which end a uniform and well-digested plan is requisite; and their safety and interest require that they should promote such manufactories as tend to render them independent of others for essential, particularly military, supplies.”
“Where are our Men of abilities? Why do they not come forth to save their Country?”
"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."
"I hope, some day or another, we shall become a storehouse and granary for the world."
"The time is near at hand which must determine whether Americans are to be free men or slaves."
“Real men despise battle, but will never run from it.”
"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 basis of our political system is the right of the people to make and to alter their constitutions of government."
"The tumultuous populace of large cities are ever to be dreaded. Their indiscriminate violence prostrates for the time all public authority, and its consequences are sometimes extensive and terrible."
"The Constitution is the guide which I never will abandon."
"As Mankind becomes more liberal, they will be more apt to allow that all those who conduct themselves as worthy members of the community are equally entitled to the protections of civil government."
"I know of no pursuit in which more real and important services can be rendered to any country than by improving its agriculture, its breed of useful animals, and other branches of a husbandman’s cares."
"The Constitution which at any time exists, ’till changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole People is sacredly obligatory upon all."
"To form a new Government requires infinite care, and unbounded attention; for if the foundation is badly laid the superstructure must be bad."
"Government is not reason and it is not eloquence. It is force! Like fire it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master. Never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action."
"I do not mean to exclude altogether the idea of patriotism. I know it exists, and I know it has done much in the present contest."
"Citizens by birth or choice of a common country, that country has a right to concentrate your affections."
"The common and continual mischief's [sic] of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and the duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it. It serves always to distract the public councils and enfeeble the public administration."
"For I love to indulge the contemplation of human nature in a progressive state of improvement and melioration: and if the idea would not be considered as visionary and chimerical, I could fondly hope."
“The great rule of conduct for us, in regard to foreign nations, is, in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible.”
“It is absolutely necessary... for me to have persons that can think for me, as well as execute orders.”
“Strive not with your superiors in argument, but always submit your judgment to others with modesty.”
“A bad war is fought with a good mind.”
“One of the expedients of party to acquire influence, within particular districts, is to misrepresent the opinions and aims of other districts.”
“Some day, following the example of the United States of America, there will be a United States of Europe.”
"I go to the chair of government with feelings not unlike those of a culprit who is going to the place of his execution."
George Washington Quotes On Success
Choose success by reading these George Washington quotes.
“My mother was the most beautiful woman I ever saw. All I am I owe to my mother. I attribute my success in life to the moral, intellectual and physical education I received from her.”
"Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence."
"I have always considered marriage as the most interesting event of one’s life, the foundation of happiness or misery."
"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."
"It will be found an unjust and unwise jealousy to deprive a man of his natural liberty upon the supposition he may abuse it."
"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."
“A sensible woman can never be happy with a fool.”
“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.”
“Discipline is the soul of an army. It makes small numbers formidable; procures success to the weak, and esteem to all”
“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.”
"To be prepared for war is one of the most effective means of preserving peace."
“if to please the people,we offer what we ourselves disapprove, how can we afterwards defend our work? Let us raise a standard to which the wise and honest can repair. The rest is in the hands of God.”
“Nothing is more essential, than that permanent, inveterate antipathies against particular Nations, and passionate attachments for others, should be excluded; and that, in place of them, just and amicable feelings towards all should be cultivated.”
“We began a contest for liberty ill provided with the means for the war, relying on our patriotism to supply the deficiency. We expected to encounter many wants and distressed… we must bear the present evils and fortitude…”
"The hour is fast approaching, on which the Honor and Success of this army, and the safety of our bleeding Country depend."
"Jealousy, and local policy mix too much in all our public councils for the good government of the Union. In a words, the confederation appears to me to be little more than a shadow without the substance."
