Interesting George Washington Quotes

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Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force; like fire, a troublesome servant and a fearful master. Never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action.
-- attributed, Upton Sinclair's The Cry for Justice

Should the States reject this excellent Constitution, the probability is, an opportunity will never again offer to cancel another in peace—the next will be drawn in blood.
-- Pennsylvania Journal and Weekly Advertiser, Nov. 14, 1787

However [political parties] may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.
-- Farewell Address, Sep. 17, 1796

The power under the constitution will always be in the people. It is intrusted for certain defined purposes, and for a certain limited period, to representatives of their own choosing; and, whenever it is executed contrary to their interest, or not agreeable to their wishes, their servants can and undoubtedly will be recalled.
-- letter to Bushrod Washington, Nov. 10, 1787

When a people shall have become incapable of governing themselves, and fit for a master, it is of little consequence from what quarter he comes.
-- letter to the Marquis de Lafayette, Apr. 28, 1788

I had rather be at Mount Vernon with a friend or two about me, than to be attended at the seat of government by the officers of state and the representatives of every power in Europe.
-- letter to David Stuart, Jun. 15, 1790

When one side only of a story is heard and often repeated, the human mind becomes impressed with it insensibly.
-- letter to Edmund Pendleton, Jan. 22, 1795

Much indeed to be regretted, party disputes are now carried to such a length, and truth is so enveloped in mist and false representation, that it is extremely difficult to know through what channel to seek it. This difficulty to one, who is of no party, and whose sole wish is to pursue with undeviating steps a path which would lead this country to respectability, wealth, and happiness, is exceedingly to be lamented. But such, for wise purposes, it is presumed, is the turbulence of human passions in party disputes, when victory more than truth is the palm contended for.
-- letter to Timothy Pickering, Jul. 27, 1795

The Nation which indulges towards another an habitual hatred or an habitual fondness is in some degree a slave. It is a slave to its animosity or to its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its interest.
-- Farewell Address to the people of the United States, Sep. 17, 1796

It is much easier at all times to prevent an evil than to rectify mistakes.
-- letter to James McHenry, Aug. 10, 1798

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