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It is to be lamented that great characters are seldom without a blot.

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
Greatness
Characters
Character
Without
Great
Lamented
Blot
Seldom

More quotes by George Washington

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It will at least be a recommendation to the proposed constitution that it is provided with more checks and barriers against the introduction of tyranny, and those of a nature less liable to be surmounted, than any government hitherto instituted among mortals hath possessed.
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The thinking part of mankind do not form their judgment from events and their equity will ever attach equal glory to those actions which deserve success, and those which have been crowned with it.
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No pecuniary consideration is more urgent, than the regular redemption and discharge of the public debt: on none can delay be more injurious, or an economy of time more valuable.
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The true distinction ... between what is called a fine Regiment, and an indifferent one will ever, upon investigation, be found to originate in, and depend upon the care, or the inattention, of the Officers belonging to them.
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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...
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Be Americans. Let there be no sectionalism, no North, South, East or West. You are all dependent on one another and should be one in union. In one word, be a nation. Be Americans, and be true to yourselves.
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What a triumph for the advocates of despotism to find that we are incapable of governing ourselves, and that systems founded on the basis of equal liberty are merely ideal and fallacious.
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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.
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Why quit our own to stand upon foreign ground? Why, by interweaving our destiny with that of any part of Europe, entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of European Ambition, Rivalship, Interest, Humour or Caprice?
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[T]he foundation of a great Empire is laid, and I please myself with a persuasion, that Providence will not leave its work imperfect.
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If we are wise, let us prepare for the worst.
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Paper money has had the effect in your State that it ever will have, to ruin commerce, oppress the honest, and open a door to every species of fraud and injustice.
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Freedom and Property Rights are inseparable. You can't have one without the other.
George Washington
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A people contending for life and liberty are seldom disposed to look with a favorable eye upon either men or measures whose passions, interests or consequences will clash with those inestimable objects.
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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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A half-starved limping government, always moving upon crutches and tottering at every step.
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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.
George Washington
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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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It is one of the evils of democratical governments, that the people, not always seeing and frequently misled, must often feel before they can act.
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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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