|
|
George Washington
|
Great Quotes By:
GEORGE WASHINGTON |
Newburgh Address, 15 March 1783:
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. |
Circular letter of farewell to the Army, 8 June 1783:
I now make it my earnest prayer, that God
would have you, and the State over which you preside, in his
holy protection, that he would incline the hearts of the
Citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and
obedience to Government, to entertain a brotherly affection
and love for one another, for their fellow Citizens of the
United States at large, and particularly for their brethren
who have served in the Field, and finally, that he would
most graciously be pleased to dispose us all, to do Justice,
to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that Charity,
humility and pacific temper of mind, which were the
Characteristicks of the Divine Author of our blessed
Religion, and without an humble imitation of whose example
in these things, we can never hope to be a happy Nation. |
Letter to Alexander Hamilton, 28 August 1788:
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. |
First Inaugural Address, 30 April 1789:
No people can be bound to acknowledge and
adore the invisible hand, which conducts the Affairs of men
more than the People of the United States. Every step, by
which they have advanced to the character of an independent
nation, seems to have been distinguished by some token of
providential agency. |
First Inaugural Address, 30 April 1789:
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. |
Letter to General Assembly of Presbyterian Churches, May
1789:
While all men within our territories are protected in
worshipping the Deity according to the dictates of their
consciences; it is rationally expected from them in return,
that they will be emulous of evincing the sanctity of their
professions by the innocence of their lives, and the
beneficence of their actions: for no man, who is profligate
in his morals, or a bad member of the civil community, can
possibly be a true Christian, or a credit to his own
religious society. |
Letter to the General Committee of the United Baptist
Churches in Virginia, May 1789:
I have often expressed my sentiments, that every man,
conducting himself as a good citizen, and being accountable
to God alone for his religious opinions, ought to be
protected in worshipping the Deity according to the dictates
of his own conscience. |
Farewell Address, 1796:
Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political
prosperity, Religion and Morality are indispensable
supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of
Patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars
of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of Men
and Citizens.… And 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. |
Letter to Bartholomew Dandridge, 8 March 1797:
Without virtue and without integrity the finest talents
or the most brilliant accomplishments can never gain the
respect or conciliate the esteem of the truly valuable part
of mankind. |
Selected by Dr. Alan Snyder 
|
