George Washington

My movements to the chair of government will be accompanied by feelings not unlike those of a culprit who is going to the place of his execution.

I shall never ask never refuse nor ever resign an office.

To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace.

To persevere in one's duty and be silent is the best answer to calumny.

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."

The basis of our political systems is the right of the people to make and to alter their constitutions of government.

Government is not reason it is not eloquence - it is force.

Human happiness and moral duty are inseparably connected.

Action not words are the true criterion of the attachment of friends.

It [gaming] is the child of avarice the brother of iniquity and the father of mischief.

True friendship is a plant of slow growth and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to the appellation.

Associate yourself with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation for 'tis better to be alone than in bad company.

Be courteous to all but intimate with few and let those few be well-tried before you give them your confidence.

Actions not words are the true criterion of the attachment of friends.

We must never despair our situation has been compromising before and it has changed for the better so I trust it will again. If difficulties arise we must put forth new exertion and proportion our efforts to the exigencies of the times.

Be courteous to all but intimate with few and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence.

But lest some unlucky event should happen unfavorable to my reputation, I beg it may be remembered by every gentleman in the room that I this day declare with the utmost sincerity, I do not think myself equal to the command I am honored with.

The nation which indulges toward another a habitual hatred or a habitual fondness is in some degree a slave. It is a slave to it animosity or two its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and it's interest.