Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder.
George Washington
- Life
- 1732-1799
- Occupations
- politician, farmer, cartographer
Facts: Wikidata (CC0), as of 2026-07-09
Washington's most famous 'quote' -- 'I cannot tell a lie' -- was invented by his biographer Parson Weems for a 1806 children's moral tale about a cherry tree. The genuine Washington is best quoted from his letters and the Farewell Address (itself drafted with Hamilton's heavy help, a collaboration historians can trace paragraph by paragraph).
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.
George Washington
It is not in the power of any man to command success; but you have done more — you have deserved it.
George Washington
My observation is that whenever one person is found adequate to the discharge of a duty . . . it is worse executed by two persons, and scarcely done at all if three or more are employed therein.
George Washington
Prosperity destroys fools and endangers the wise.
George Washington
Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.
George Washington
Reason, too late perhaps, may convince you of the folly in misspending time.
George Washington
To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace.
George Washington
To err is nature, to rectify error is glory.
George Washington