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Government is not reason it is not eloquent it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.

George Washington

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George Washington
Age: 67 †
Born: 1732
Born: February 22
Died: 1799
Died: December 14
1St U.S. President
Cartographer
Engineer
Farmer
Land Surveyor
Military Officer
Politician
Slaveholder
Statesperson
Westmoreland County
Virginia
Washington
President Washington
G. Washington
Father of the United States
The American Fabius
Like
Economy
Liberalism
Fire
Libertarian
Politics
Presidential
Freedom
Servant
Force
Master
War
Masters
Eloquent
Government
Dangerous
Eloquence
Reason
Liberty
Fearful

More quotes by George Washington

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In disputes, be not so desirous to overcome as to not give liberty to each one to deliver his opinion and submit to the judgment of the major part, especially if they are judges of the dispute.
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Honesty is always the best policy.
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Freemasonry is an institution founded on eternal reason and truth whose deep basis is the civilization of mankind, and whose everlasting glory it is to have the immovable support of those two mighty pillars, science and morality.
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I was no party man myself, and the first wish of my heart was, if parties did exist, to reconcile them.
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The marvel of all history is the patience with which men and women submit to burdens unnecessarily laid upon them by their governments.
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To anticipate and prevent disasterous contingencies would be the part of wisdom and patriotism.
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America ... has ever had, and I trust she ever will have, my honest exertions to promote her interest. I cannot hope that my services have been the best but my heart tells me they have been the best that I could render.
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Liberty, when it degrades into licentiousness, begets confusion, and frequently ends in tyranny or some woeful confusion.
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Let experience solve it. To listen to mere speculation in such a case were criminal.
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My anxious recollections, my sympathetic feeling, and my best wishes are irresistibly excited whensoever, in any country, I see an oppressed nation unfurl the banners of freedom.
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A passionate attachment of one nation for another produces a variety of evils
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May Heaven to this Union continue its beneficence
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You do well to wish to learn our arts and ways of life, and above all, the religion of Jesus Christ. These will make you a greater and happier people than you are. Congress will do every thing they can to assist you in this wise intention.
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Every day the increasing weight of years admonishes me more and more, that the shade of retirement is as necessary to me as it will be welcome.
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I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to private affairs, that honesty is always the best policy.
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All see, and most admire, the glare which hovers round the external trappings of elevated office. To me there is nothing in it, beyond the lustre which may be reflected from its connection with a power of promoting human felicity.
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I rejoice that liberty . . . now finds an asylum in the bosom of a regularly organized government a government, which, being formed to secure happiness of the French people, corresponds with the ardent wishes of my heart, while it gratifies the pride of every citizen of the United States, by its resemblance to their own.
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I was summoned by my Country, whose voice I can never hear but with veneration and love.
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The unity of government which constitutes you one people is also now dear to you. It is justly so, for it is a main pillar in the edifice of your real independence, the support of your tranquility at home, your peace abroad, of your safety, of your prosperity, of that very liberty which you so highly prize.
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Precedents are dangerous things let the reins of government then be braced and held with a steady hand, and every violation of the Constitution be reprehended: If defective let it be amended, but not suffered to be trampled upon whilst it has an existence.
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