George Washington
Traced to source
7 quotes we’ve traced to George Washington
“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”
Verified“To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace”
Verified“A free people ought not only to be armed and disciplined, but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them”
Disputed“Associate yourself with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation, for it is better to be alone than in bad company”
Disputed“Government is like fire, a dangerous servant and a fearful master”
Disputed“Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force; like fire, a troublesome servant and a fearful master”
Disputed“It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible”
DisputedNot actually George Washington
Often misattributed to George Washington
Famous lines widely pinned on George Washington that we’ve traced to someone else.
“A free people ought not only to be armed and disciplined, but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them”
actually Unknown
“Associate yourself with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation, for it is better to be alone than in bad company”
actually A French Jesuit “Rules of Civility” maxim (trans. Francis Hawkins)
“Firearms stand next in importance to the Constitution itself. They are the American people's liberty teeth and keystone under independence”
actually C. S. Wheatley
“Government is like fire, a dangerous servant and a fearful master”
actually Unknown — a reworked proverb, falsely credited to Washington
“Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force; like fire, a troublesome servant and a fearful master”
actually Unknown
“I cannot tell a lie... I did cut it with my hatchet”
actually Mason Locke Weems
“I cannot tell a lie, I did it with my little hatchet”
actually Mason Locke Weems
“It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible”
actually Unknown
“It is too probable that no plan we propose will be adopted. Perhaps another dreadful conflict is to be sustained”
actually Gouverneur Morris
“The government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion”
actually Treaty of Tripoli, Article 11 (English text by Joel Barlow)
“The marvel of all history is the patience with which men and women submit to burdens unnecessarily laid upon them by their governments”
actually William Edgar Borah
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