Honor our first president—and celebrate Presidents Day—with these inspirational George Washington quotes
75 Famous George Washington Quotes in Honor of Presidents Day
Updated on Jan. 09, 2025
As Presidents Day approaches, many Americans will take time to celebrate and honor the leadership and wisdom of our Founding Fathers. This includes George Washington, whose birthday is on Feb. 22 but is often celebrated alongside the national holiday (which falls on Feb. 19 in 2024).
While Presidents Day is a collective tribute to all U.S. presidents, there’s a special resonance in honoring George Washington, who served as the first president of the United States, from 1789 to 1797. So in light of Washington’s leadership and legacy, explore some of the most impactful George Washington quotes below. Many of these presidential quotes are timeless and still resonate with the essence of America’s ideals and governance today.
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Famous George Washington quotes
1. “It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one.” —To Harriet Washington, October 30, 1791
2. “If freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.” —Newburgh Address, March 15, 1783
3. “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.” —Letter to Thomas Jefferson, August 1, 1786
4. “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.” —Address to the Continental Congress, June 16, 1775
5. “Having now finished the work assigned me, I retire from the great theatre of action.” —Address to Congress resigning his commission, December 23, 1783
6. “The ways of Providence being inscrutable, and the justice of it not to be scanned by the shallow eye of humanity, nor to be counteracted by the utmost efforts of human power or wisdom, resignation, and as far as the strength of our reason and religion can carry us, a cheerful acquiescence to the Divine Will, is what we are to aim.” —Letter to Colonel Bassett, April 20, 1773
7. “To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace.” —First Annual Address to both houses of Congress, January 8, 1790
8. “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.” —To Alexander Hamilton, August 28, 1788
9. “Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism.” —Farewell Address, September 19, 1796
10. “Interwoven as is the love of liberty with every ligament of your hearts, no recommendation of mine is necessary to fortify or confirm the attachment.” —Farewell Address, September 19, 1796
11. “There can be no greater error than to expect, or calculate upon real favours from nation to nation.” —Farewell Address, September 19, 1796
12. “I shall make it the most agreeable part of my duty to study merit, and reward the brave and deserving.” —Address to the officers of the Virginia regiment, January 8, 1756
13. “Towards the preservation of your government and the permanency of your present happy state, it is requisite not only that you steadily discountenance irregular oppositions to its acknowledged authority but also that you resist with care the spirit of innovation upon its principles, however specious the pretexts.” —Farewell Address, September 19, 1796
14. “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.” —Farewell Address, September 19, 1796
15. “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.” —Quoted during a response to the Newburgh Address, March 15, 1783
Motivational George Washington quotes
16. “Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth.” —Letter to James Madison, March 2, 1788
17. “Let your heart feel for the afflictions and distress of everyone, and let your hand give in proportion to your purse.” —George Washington
18. “There is a destiny which has the control of our actions, not to be resisted by the strongest efforts of human nature.” —Letter to Mrs. George William Fairfax, September 12, 1758
19. “The harder the conflict, the greater the triumph.” —George Washington
20. “A man’s intentions should be allowed in some respects to plead for his actions.” —Letter to the speaker of the House of Burgesses, April 18, 1756
21. “We must consult our means rather than our wishes.” —George Washington
22. “Be courteous to all, but intimate with few; and let those be well-tried before you give them your confidence.” —To Bushrod Washington, January 15, 1783
23. “Worry is the interest paid by those who borrow trouble.” —George Washington
24. “True friendship is a plant of slow growth, and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity, before it is entitled to the appellation.” —To Bushrod Washington, January 15, 1783
25. “Real men despise battle, but will never run from it.” —George Washington
26. “To persevere in one’s duty, and be silent is the best answer to calumny.” —George Washington
27. “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
28. “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.” —Rules of Decent Behavior, 1745
29. “There is nothing which can better deserve your patronage, than the promotion of science and literature.” —First Annual Address, January 8, 1790
30. “Bad seed is a robbery of the worst kind: for your pocket-book not only suffers by it, but your preparations are lost and a season passes away unimproved.” —George Washington
31. “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
George Washington quotes on government
32. “Respect for its authority, compliance with its laws, acquiescence in its measures, are duties enjoined by the fundamental maxims of true liberty.” —Farewell Address, September 19, 1796
33. “The very idea of the power and the right of the people to establish government presupposes the duty of every individual to obey the established government.” —Farewell Address, September 19, 1796
34. “To the efficacy and permanency of your Union, a government for the whole is indispensable. No alliances, however strict, between the parts can be an adequate substitute. They must inevitably experience the infractions and interruptions which all alliances in all times have experienced.” —Farewell Address, September 19, 1796
35. “While we are contending for our own liberty, we should be very cautious not to violate the rights of conscience in others, ever considering that God alone is the judge of the hearts of men, and to him only in this case they are answerable.” —Letter to Benedict Arnold, September 14, 1775
36. “Arbitrary power is most easily established on the ruins of liberty abused to licentiousness.” —Circular to the States, June 8, 1783
37. “I have diligently sought the public welfare; and have endeavoured to inculcate the same principles in all that are under me. These reflections will be a cordial to my mind as long as I am able to distinguish between good and evil.” —Letter to John Robinson, April 18, 1756
38. “The time is near at hand which must determine whether Americans are to be free men or slaves.” —General Orders, July 2, 1776
39. “The name of American, which belongs to you in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of patriotism more than any appellation derived from local discriminations.” —Farewell Address, September 19, 1796
40. “With slight shades of difference, you have the same religion, manners, habits and political principles. You have in a common cause fought and triumphed together.” —Farewell Address, September 19, 1796
41. “The independence and liberty you possess are the work of joint councils and joint efforts—of common dangers, sufferings and successes.” —Farewell Address, September 19, 1796
42. “The basis of our political systems is the right of the people to make and to alter their constitutions of government. But the Constitution which at any time exists, until changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole people, is sacredly obligatory upon all.” —Farewell Address, September 19, 1796
43. “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.” —To the Hebrew Congregation, August 18, 1790
44. “You cannot shield yourselves too much against the jealousies and heart burnings which spring from these misrepresentations. They tend to render alien to each other those who ought to be bound together by fraternal affection.” —Farewell Address, September 19, 1796
45. “It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliance with any portion of the foreign world.” —Farewell Address, September 19, 1796
46. “Is there a doubt whether a common government can embrace so large a sphere? Let experience solve it. To listen to mere speculation in such a case were criminal.” —Farewell Address, September 19, 1796
47. “We are authorized to hope that a proper organization of the whole, with the auxiliary agency of governments for the respective subdivisions, will afford a happy issue to the experiment.” —Farewell Address, September 19, 1796
George Washington quotes on character
48. “It is infinitely better to have a few good Men, than many indifferent ones.” —Letter to James McHenry, August 10, 1798
49. “The Constitution is the guide which I never will abandon.” —To Boston citizens, July 28, 1795
50. “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
51. “Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder.” —Letter to Major-General Robert Howe, August 17, 1779
52. “I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to private affairs, that honesty is always the best policy.” —Farewell Address, September 19, 1796
53. “Who that is a sincere friend to it can look with indifference upon attempts to shake the foundation of the fabric?” —Farewell Address, September 19, 1796
54. “I shall not be deprived … of a comfort in the worst event, if I retain a consciousness of having acted to the best of my judgment.” —Letter to Colonel Bassett, June 19, 1775
55. “Remember that it is the actions, and not the commission, that make the officer, and that there is more expected from him, than the title.” —Address to the officers of the Virginia regiment, January 8, 1756
56. “Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.” —Farewell Address, September 19, 1796
57. “Nothing is a greater stranger to my breast, or a sin that my soul more abhors, than that black and detestable one, ingratitude.” —Letter to Governor Dinwiddie, May 29, 1754
58. “… 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, December 5, 1790
George Washington quotes on life
59. “Truth will ultimately prevail where there is pains to bring it to light.” —Letter to Charles M. Thurston, August 10, 1794
60. “For although we cannot avoid first impressions, we may assuredly place them under guard.” —Letter to Eleanor Parke Custis, March 21, 1796
61. “Observe good faith and justice towards all nations; cultivate peace and harmony with all; religion and morality enjoin this conduct, and can it be that good policy does not equally enjoin it?” —Farewell Address, September 19, 1796
62. “Flirting is hardly a degree removed from the latter and both are punished by the counter game of men, who see this the case & act accordingly.” —Letter to Eleanor Parke Custis, March 21, 1796
63. “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.” —General Orders, August 3, 1776
64. “With me, a predominant motive has been to endeavor to gain time to our country to settle and mature its yet recent institutions and to progress without interruption to that degree of strength and consistency which is necessary to give it, humanly speaking, the command of its own fortunes.” —Farewell Address, September 19, 1796
