George Washington was an American political leader, military general, statesman, and Founding Father who also served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. He led Patriot forces to victory in the nation’s War for Independence. Washington played a key role in the adoption and ratification of the Constitution and was then elected president by the Electoral College in the first two elections. Upon his death, he was eulogized as “first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen.” He has been memorialized by monuments, art, geographical locations, stamps, and currency, and many scholars and polls rank him among the top American presidents.
Some of the best quotes from George Washington are listed below.
- “99% of failures come from people who make excuses.” – George Washington
- “A good moral character is the first essential in a man, and that the habits contracted at your age are generally indelible, and your conduct here may stamp your character through life. It is therefore highly important that you should endeavor not only to be learned but virtuous.” – George Washington
- “A people who are possessed of the spirit of commerce, who see and who will pursue their advantages may achieve almost anything.” – George Washington
- “A sensible woman can never be happy with a fool.” – 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
- “Adhere to your purpose and you will soon feel as well as you ever did. On the contrary, if you falter, and give up, you will lose the power of keeping any resolution, and will regret it all your life.” – 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
- “Be not glad at the misfortune of another, though he may be your enemy.” – George Washington
- “Discipline is the soul of an army. It makes small numbers formidable; procures success to the weak, and esteem to all.” – George Washington
- “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.” – George Washington
- “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.” – George Washington
- “Happiness and moral duty are inseparably connected.” – George Washington
- “Honesty will be found on every experiment, to be the best and only true policy. Let us then as a nation be just.” – George Washington
- “I have always considered marriage as the most interesting event of one’s life, the foundation of happiness or misery.” – George Washington
- “I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to private affairs, that honesty is the best policy.” – 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
- “I walk slowly, but I never walk backward.” – George Washington
- “I’ll die on my feet before I’ll live on my knees!” – 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
- “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 should be the highest ambition of every American to extend his views beyond himself, and to bear in mind that his conduct will not only affect himself, his country, and his immediate posterity; but that its influence may be co-extensive with the world, and stamp political happiness or misery on ages yet unborn.” – George Washington
- “Leave nothing for tomorrow which can be done today.” – George Washington
- “Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth.” – George Washington
- “More permanent and genuine happiness is to be found in the sequestered walks of connubial life than in the giddy rounds of promiscuous pleasure.” – George Washington
- “My first wish is to see this plague of mankind, war, banished from the earth.” – George Washington
- “My mother was the most beautiful woman I ever saw. All I am I owe to my mother. I attribute all my success in life to the moral, intellectual and physical education I received from her.” – George Washington
- “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.” – George Washington
- “Nothing is a greater stranger to my breast, or a sin that my soul more abhors, than that black and detestable one, ingratitude.” – George Washington
- “Observe good faith and justice toward all nations. Cultivate peace and harmony with all.” – George Washington
- “Perseverance and spirit have done wonders in all ages.” – George Washington
- “Real men despise battle, but will never run from it.” – George Washington
- “Religion is as necessary to reason as reason is to religion. The one cannot exist without the other.” – George Washington
- “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.” – George Washington
- “The harder the conflict, the greater the triumph.” – George Washington
- “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.” – George Washington
- “To contract new debts is not the way to pay old ones.” – 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 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
- “Worry is the interest paid by those who borrow trouble.” – George Washington
