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[V]irtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government.

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
Virtue
Liberty
Government
Popular
Morality
Spring
Necessary

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I can never think of promoting my convenience at the expense of a friend's interest and inclination.
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To expect ... the same service from raw and undisciplined recruits, as from veteran soldiers, is to expect what never did and perhaps never will happen. Men, who are familiarized to danger, meet it without shrinking whereas troops unused to service often apprehend danger where no danger is.
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The great mass of our citizens require only to understand matters rightly, to form right decisions.
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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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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.
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The inducements of interest for observing [neutral] conduct . . . has been to endeavour 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.
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There is an indissoluble union between a magnanimous policy and the solid rewards of public prosperity and felicity.
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I wish to walk in such a line as will give most general satisfaction.
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I commend you, however, for passing the time in as merry a manner as you possibly could it is assuredly better to go laughing than crying thro' the rough journey of life.
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It rarely happens otherwise than that a thorough-faced coquette dies in celibacy, as a punishment for her attempts to mislead others, by encouraging looks, words, or actions, given for no other purpose than to draw men on to make overtures that they may be rejected.
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The foolish and wicked practice of profane cursing and swearing...is a vice so mean and low, without any temptation, that every man of sense and character detests and despises it.
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We must take care always to keep ourselves, by suitable establishments, in a respectable defensive posture.
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Let thy carriage be such as becomes a man grave settled and attentive to that which is spoken. Contradict not, at every turn, what others say.
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The crisis is arrived when we must assert our rights, or submit to every imposition, that can be heaped upon us, till custom and use shall make us as tame and abject slaves, as the blacks we rule over with such arbitrary sway.
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Smaller societies must prepare the way for greater.
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..avoiding likewise the accumulation of debt, not only by shunning occasions of expense, but by vigorous exertions in time of peace to discharge the debts, which unavoidable wars may have occasioned, not ungenerously throwing upon posterity the burthen, which we ourselves ought to bear.
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To rectify past blunders is impossible, but we might profit by the experience of them.
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It is incumbent upon every person of every description to contribute to his country's welfare.
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May 12-13: Sowed Hemp at Muddy hole by Swamp. August 7: Began to separate the Male from the Female at Do - rather too late.
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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.
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