George Washington

Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder.

I conceive that a knowledge of books is the basis on which all other knowledge rests.

The very idea of the power and right of the people to establish government presupposes the duty of every individual to obey the established government.

Nothing is more harmful to the service, than the neglect of discipline; for that discipline, more than numbers, gives one army superiority over another.

Let your heart feel for the affliction and distress of everyone.

I go to the chair of government with feelings not unlike those of a culprit who is going to the place of his execution.

WE OUGHT TO BE PERSUADED THAT 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.

One of his officers, Henry Lee, summed up contemporary public opinion of Washington: First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen.

If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.

We ought not to look back unless it is to derive useful lessons from past errors, and for the purpose of profiting by dear-bought experience.