60+ George Washington Quotes About Success to Motivate You to Work Hard

Leave nothing for tomorrow which can be done today.

It is far better to be alone than to be in bad company.

Let your discourse with men of business be short and comprehensive.

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

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

To contract new debts is not the way to pay old ones.

I walk slowly, but I never walk backward.

There is nothing which can better deserve your patronage than the promotion of science and literature. Knowledge is in every country the surest basis of public happiness.

A primary object should be the education of our youth in the science of government. In a republic, what species of knowledge can be equally important, and what duty more pressing than communicating it to those who are to be the future guardians of the liberties of the country?

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

Worry is the interest paid by those who borrow trouble.

I shall not be deprived of a comfort in the worst event, if I retain a consciousness of having acted to the best of my judgment.

Perseverance and spirit have done wonders in all ages.

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

The marvel of all history is the patience with which men and women submit to burdens unnecessarily laid upon them by their governments.

Adhere to your purpose and you will soon feel as well as you ever did. On the contrary, if you falter and give up, you will lose the power of keeping any resolution, and will regret it all your life.

We ought not to look back unless it is to derive useful lessons from past errors.

It will be all the better if we lay by the animosities of the past and act together as a united people.

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

Nothing can be more hurtful to the service than the neglect of discipline, for that discipline, more than numbers, gives one army the superiority over another.

A free people ought not only to be armed but disciplined.

I shall make it the most agreeable part of my duty to study merit and reward the brave and deserving.

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

Let us raise a standard to which the wise and honest can repair. The rest is in the hands of God.

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

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.

I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to private affairs, that honesty is the best policy.

I hope I shall possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an honest man.

Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire called conscience.

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

Nothing is a greater stranger to my breast, or a sin that my soul more abhors, than that black and detestable one, ingratitude.

A man’s intentions should be allowed in some respects to plead for his actions.

Happiness and moral duty are inseparably connected.

There is but one straight course, and that is to seek truth and pursue it steadily.

My mother was the most beautiful woman I ever saw. All I am I owe to my mother. I attribute my success in life to the moral, intellectual, and physical education I received from her.

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

Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism.

Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder.

No punishment, in my opinion, is too great for the man who can build his greatness upon his country’s ruin.

I was summoned by my country, whose voice I can never hear but with veneration and love.

Observe good faith and justice toward all nations. Cultivate peace and harmony with all.

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

The Constitution is the guide which I never will abandon.

I had always hoped that this land might become a safe and agreeable asylum to the virtuous and persecuted part of mankind, to whatever nation they might belong.

Promote, then, as an object of primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge.

It is impossible to reign happy over a free people if you have a mind averse to the public welfare.

‘Tis substantially true that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government.

For happily the government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens.

I attribute my success in life to the moral, intellectual, and physical education I received from my mother.

Real happiness is confined to the middle class.

The great and only object of my wishes is so far to advance the interest and happiness of my country.

I can never close my mind to the arguments in favor of national defense.

I do not think myself equal to the command with which I am honored, but as the congress desires it, I will enter upon the momentous duty.

Fond as I am of the theoretic reveries of philosophers upon this species of government, I confess I am not one of their disciples.

Let vigorous measures be adopted, not to draw the artillery of the church against her, but to prevent her from doing further mischief.

The advice nearest my heart is to promote, as an object of primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge.

The foundation of our national policy will be laid in the pure and immutable principles of private morality.

Some employment for the mind is doubtless as necessary as food and rest for the body.

There is no restraint upon my animal spirits, which have often been very near getting the better of my discretion.

It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world.

In politics, as in religion, my tenets are few and simple: the leading one of which, and indeed that which embraces most others, is to be honest and just to all men.

Impressed with the liveliest sentiments of gratitude, I derive great satisfaction from reflecting on the many instances of approbation my country has been pleased to bestow.

Let each person select the way that best suits their genius, and in it labor with unrelenting industry.