A miniature stone arch bridge with a gold-coloured keystone stands over a blue dish of water.

Original artwork, not a still

George Washington

Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.

Behind the line

What it means

Our interpretation.

This is a view that, going by reason and experience, a nation's morality can't be expected to hold up without religious principle behind it. It's the speaker's argument that ethics and faith are bound together at national level.

Context reviewed

Share this quote