George Washington

It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one.

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

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

Associate with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation.

Happiness and moral duty are inseparably connected.

Truth will ultimately prevail where there is pains to bring it to light.

Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth.

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

Discipline is the soul of an army. It makes small numbers formidable; procures success to the weak, and esteem to all.

Every post is honorable in which a man can serve his country.

The time is now near at hand which must probably determine whether Americans are to be freemen or slaves; whether they are to have any property they can call their own; whether their houses and farms are to be pillaged and destroyed, and themselves consigned to a state of wretchedness from which no human efforts will deliver them. The fate of unborn millions will now depend, under God, on the courage and conduct of this army. Our cruel and unrelenting enemy leaves us only the choice of brave resistance, or the most abject submission. We have, therefore, to resolve to conquer or die.

Discipline is the soul of an army.

Perseverance and spirit have done wonders in all ages.

Be courteous to all, but intimate with few.

Of all the dispositions and habits, which lead to political prosperity, Religion and Morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of Patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of Men and Citizens. The mere Politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connexions with private and public felicity.

Let us with caution indulge the supposition, that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect, that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.

It is substantially true, that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government. The rule, indeed, extends with more or less force to every species of free government.