George Washington was widely respected both during his lifetime and long after. Though not all of his actions were admirable by modern standards (he was a slaveholder for most of his life and believed Native Americans needed to be “assimilated” into society), our first president oversaw the birth of a new nation and helped lay out its founding principles. These George Washington quotes show he had good advice to offer on a wide array of topics, from making friends to leading a country.
Try using these quotes as prompts for journal entries, debate topics, or just general inspiration for your students. We’ve offered our own thoughts on how to use many of these quotes in your classroom. Start by printing and hanging our Top 5 George Washington Quotes posters. They’re free to download—just enter your email address in the form on this page!
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Advice From George Washington Quotes
Washington loved to advise others based on his own personal experiences and wisdom. A lot of his advice is still excellent now, hundreds of years later.
“A good moral character is the first essential in a man. … It is therefore highly important that you should endeavor not only to be learned but virtuous.”
There’s more to learn in a classroom than just facts! Washington knew that social-emotional learning matters too.
“Submit your sentiments with diffidence. A dictatorial style, though it may carry conviction, is always accompanied with disgust.”
Washington likely meant that it’s good to share your opinion, but you should do it in a way that shows you recognize others may disagree.
“Let thy carriage be such as becomes a man grave settled and attentive to that which is spoken. Contradict not, at every turn, what others say.”
Listen (and think) before you speak. It’s an excellent rule for debate and productive discussion.
“Do not conceive that fine Clothes make fine Men, any more than fine feathers make fine Birds—A plain genteel dress is more admired and obtains more credit than lace & embroidery in the Eyes of the judicious and sensible.”
Washington was all about simple elegance. Do your students agree? Try using this one as a debate topic!
“Let your heart feel for the afflictions and distresses of every one, and let your hand give in proportion to your purse; remembering always … that it is not every one who asketh that deserveth charity; all, however, are worthy of the inquiry, or the deserving may suffer.”
Ask your students: Is it true that not everyone who asks for charity is deserving of it?
“Undertake not to teach your equal in the art himself professes; it savors arrogance.”
Respect the experts. It’s a lesson worth learning.
“Play not the Peacock, looking everywhere about you, to see if you be well deck’t.”
Tell your students this the next time you catch them checking out their reflection!
“The hours allotted for study, if really applied to it, instead of running up & down stairs, & wasted in conversation with any one who will talk with you, will enable you to make considerable progress in whatsoever line is marked out for you.”
George Washington gave the same advice parents and teachers have been giving for ages: Focus on the work at hand.
“Speak seldom, but to important subjects … and make yourself perfectly master of the subject.”
Speak up when you have something valuable to say, but be sure you know what you’re talking about.
“Sleep not when others speak, sit not when others stand, speak not when you should hold your peace, walk not when others stop.”
R-E-S-P-E-C-T … The same rule that governs most classrooms was also one of Washington’s watchwords. What other characteristics would your students add to his description?
“Give not advice without being asked, and when desired, do it briefly.”
This has to be one of the hardest things for most of us to learn: Don’t offer unsolicited advice.
“System in all things should be aimed at; for in execution it renders every thing more easy.”
Obsessively organized teachers: Washington believes in you!
“Undertake not what you cannot perform, but be careful to keep your promise.”
It’s OK if you’re not able to do something—but once you agree to try, be sure you follow through.
“To contract new debts is not the way to pay old ones.”
Work this one into your lessons on financial literacy!
“It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one.”
Point to this one when your students try to offer new and creative explanations for why their assignments are late.
“Rise early, that by habit it may become familiar, agreeable, healthy, and profitable. It may, for a while, be irksome to do this, but that will wear off; and the practice will produce a rich harvest forever thereafter.”
This is another terrific one for debate: Is it really better to be a morning person?
“There is no practice more dangerous than that of borrowing money.”
Is this still true in modern society? Discuss this quote when you teach kids about financial topics like loans and credit cards.
“System in all things is the soul of business. To deliberate maturely & execute promptly is the way to conduct it to advantage.”
Share this thought with students when you teach them executive functioning skills like the importance of organization.
“It is not the lowest priced goods that are always the cheapest—the quality is, or ought to be, as much an object with the purchaser as the price.”
Any teacher who’s had to use generic crayons knows the truth of this one!
George Washington Quotes on Friendship and Relationships
Throughout his life, Washington learned the right way to cultivate and build friendships and other relationships. Here are his thoughts on the topic.
“The company in which you will improve most will be least expensive to you.”
Ask your students: What did Washington mean by “expensive” in this quote?
“The views of men can only be known, or guessed at, by their words or actions.”
As the idiom goes: Actions speak louder than words. Find more idioms to share with your class here.
“Associate yourself with men of good quality, if you esteem your own reputation; for it is better to be alone than in bad company.”
Use this quote to open a discussion on the differences between good and bad company, and the value of surrounding yourself with those you admire.
“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.”
Is it better to have just a few close friends rather than a big circle of acquaintances? Let your students share their thoughts.
“We must take human nature as we find it, perfection falls not to the share of mortals.”
No one is perfect! Washington knew it, so make sure your students do too.
“Good company will always be found much less expensive than bad.”
Try this for a journal prompt: “What does bad company ‘cost’ you?”
“It is easy to make acquaintances, but very difficult to shake them off, however irksome and unprofitable they are found, after we have once committed ourselves to them.”
Choose your friends wisely, because it’s a lot harder to break up a friendship than start one.
“The most certain way to make a man your enemy is to tell him you esteem him such.”
Washington knew the importance of language; words can hurt.
“It is infinitely better to have a few good Men than many indifferent ones.”
Form a close circle of people you like, respect, and trust—that’s all you really need.
George Washington Quotes About Character
One of Washington’s most admired traits was his honest and forthright character, and he shared his ideas about that in these quotes.
“When a man does all he can, though it succeeds not well, blame not him that did it.”
Growth mindset, the George Washington way! It’s better to try and fail, as long as you give it your best.
“Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder.”
This one might seem a little vague to students at first, so ask them to think about the meaning behind the statement.
“It is with pleasure I receive reproof, when reproof is due, because no person can be readier to accuse me, than I am to acknowledge an error, when I am guilty of one; nor more desirous of atoning for a crime, when I am sensible of having committed it.”
Admit your mistakes: It’s a basic principle and a very hard one for many of us to do.
“It is to be lamented that great characters are seldom without a blot.”
This is a terrific way to open up a conversation about Washington’s own failings, such as the use of enslaved people on his plantation.
“In the composition of the human frame there is a good deal of inflammable matter, however dormant it may lie for a time.”
In other words, any person can be roused to anger or action under the right circumstances. Ask your students: What is your own personal “inflammable matter”?
“Ours is a kind of struggle designed, I dare say, by Providence to try the patience, fortitude, and virtue of men. None, therefore, who is engaged in it, will suffer himself, I trust, to sink under difficulties, or be discouraged by hardships. If he cannot do as he wishes, he must do what he can.“
Do the best you can with what you have … it’s all we can ask of anyone.
“Men’s minds are as variant as their faces.”
This one makes a terrific journal prompt: What did Washington mean, and why is it important?
“In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism who should labor to subvert these great pillars.”
By “great pillars,” Washington meant the founding principles of our country. Have your students do some research into what Washington believed those pillars stood for.
“Three things prompt men to a regular discharge of their duty in time of action: natural bravery, hope of reward, and fear of punishment.”
Are these the only reasons people step forward to serve? Find out what your students think.
“Nothing is a greater stranger to my breast, or a sin that my soul more abhors, than that black and detestable one, ingratitude.”
Gratitude is more than just saying “thanks.” Brainstorm ways to demonstrate gratitude with your class, and discuss why it’s so important.
“A person who is anxious to be a leader of the fashion, or one of the first to follow it, will certainly appear in the eyes of judicious men to have nothing better than a frequent change of dress to recommend him to notice.”
Don’t judge people by their appearance. It’s an old standard, and for good reason. Talk with your students about the value of beauty that goes more than skin-deep.
Justice and Liberty George Washington Quotes
Washington firmly believed he was helping establish a new nation that would indeed promise liberty and justice for all (in time). These quotes demonstrate his hopes and opinions.
“For if Men are to be precluded from offering their Sentiments on a matter … reason is of no use to us; the freedom of Speech may be taken away, and, dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep, to the Slaughter.”
Our Founding Fathers valued freedom of speech so highly, they placed it first in the Constitution. Ask students to reflect on why this right was so valued by these men.
“Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth.”
As a class, look for other examples of liberty taking root throughout history. Does it always grow rapidly?
“But if the laws are to be so trampled upon with impunity, and a minority is to dictate to the majority, there is an end put at one stroke to republican government, and nothing but anarchy and confusion is to be expected thereafter …”
Topic for debate: In our current society, does a minority dictate to the majority? Who exactly makes up the majorities and minorities?
“Nothing is too extravagant to expect from men who conceive they are ungratefully and unjustly dealt by.”
When we deal with people unfairly, we shouldn’t be surprised by their reactions. How does this affect your own dealings with students, as well as society on a larger scale?
“As mankind become more liberal, they will be more apt to allow that all those who conduct themselves as worthy members of the Community are equally entitled to the protection of civil Government. I hope ever to see America among the foremost nations in examples of justice and liberality.“
It’s an interesting question: Is America among the best nations when it comes to liberty and justice for all?
“There never was a law yet made, I conceive, that hit the taste exactly of every man, or every part of the community; of course, if this be a reason for opposition, no law can be executed at all without force, and every man or set of men will in that case cut and carve for themselves.”
Whether you’re talking about class rules or major laws, it’s true that you can’t please everyone. Given that truth, ask your students to consider how we can make the best rules and laws in general.
“A man’s intentions should be allowed in some respects to plead for his actions.”
Do good intentions excuse bad actions? Let your students debate this one out.
“The foundation of our Empire was not laid in the gloomy age of Ignorance and Superstition, but at an Epoch when the rights of mankind were better understood and more clearly defined, than at any former period.”
Consider the rights of mankind as we conceive of them today. How do they compare to the rights Washington believed in?
“Truth will ultimately prevail where pains is taken to bring it to light.”
Explore times in history when people have gone to great pains to bring truth to light. Did those pains ultimately bring about the desired results?
“When one side only of a story is heard, and often repeated, the human mind becomes impressed with it, insensibly.”
Teach your students to consider multiple points of view, even (or perhaps especially) those that conflict with their own.
“The due administration of justice is the firmest pillar of good Government.”
Food for thought: Do we all agree on the definition of “justice”?
“I had always hoped that this land might become a safe & agreeable Asylum to the virtuous & persecuted part of mankind, to whatever nation they might belong.”
Another question for students: If Washington were alive today, what opinions might he hold on the topic of immigration and the path to citizenship?
“I rejoice in a belief that intellectual light will spring up in the dark corners of the earth; that freedom of enquiry will produce liberality of conduct.”
More than 200 years later, has Washington’s prediction held true? This would be a great topic for a persuasive essay.
“The best and only safe road to honor, glory, and true dignity is justice.”
Journal prompt: How does justice provide dignity, honor, and glory?
George Washington Leadership Quotes
As a general, president, and head of a major plantation, Washington used his leadership skills every single day. He had plenty to say on what makes strong, effective leaders.
“A hundred thousand men, coming one after another, cannot move a Ton weight; but the united strength of 50 would transport it with ease.”
Stronger together: Ask your students to look for examples of times when this has been true.
“To please everybody is impossible; were I to undertake it, I should probably please nobody.”
If it’s true that we can’t please everybody all of the time, what should a person strive for in their relationships with others?
“I shall make it the most agreeable part of my duty to study merit, and reward the brave and deserving.”
These are excellent words for teachers to live by. Remember to take time to look for behaviors and achievements worth celebrating in your classroom!
“Example, whether it be good or bad, has a powerful influence.”
This quote goes hand-in-hand with another common precept: Lead by example. As a teacher, your actions are just as important as your lesson plans.
“In executing the duties of my present important station, I can promise nothing but purity of intentions, and, in carrying these into effect, fidelity and diligence.”
Discussion topic: Have all of our presidents had “purity of intentions”? What does that mean?
“A people unused to restraint must be led, they will not be drove.”
This is a really interesting idea: leading rather than driving. How do you lead your students rather than driving them? Is that always possible?
“Experience has taught us that men will not adopt and carry into execution measures the best calculated for their own good without the intervention of a coercive power.”
Washington seems to be saying that, left to their own devices, people won’t always make the best choices. Do you and your students agree?
“I wish to walk in such a line as will give most general satisfaction.”
If Washington lived today, would he be able to win an election by walking a center line? See what your students think.
“In the appointments to the great offices of the government, my aim has been to combine geographical situation, and sometimes other considerations, with abilities and fitness of known characters.”
Why did Washington value geographical diversity when building his first cabinet? Is that still important today?
“The true distinction … between what is called a fine Regiment, and an indifferent one will ever, upon investigation, be found to originate in, and depend upon the care, or the inattention, of the Officers belonging to them.”
Leaders are ultimately responsible for a group’s success, something teachers know better than anyone.
“A variety in punishment is of utility, as well as a proportion.”
Washington believed in punishment that fit the crime, something teachers can take into account when forming their own classroom behavior management policies.
“In general I esteem it a good maxim, that the best way to preserve the confidence of the people durably is to promote their true interest.”
Do your best by people, and they’ll believe and trust in you. That’s good advice for anyone.
George Washington Quotes on Personal Principles
Washington considered himself a man of strong character, though he acknowledged his failings readily. Take a look at his most deeply held beliefs on the proper way to live.
“To speak evil of any one, unless there is unequivocal proofs of their deserving it, is an injury for which there is no adequate reparation.”
This is good for students (and teachers) to remember: Don’t accuse people of something without knowing the whole story.
“If we cannot learn wisdom from experience, it is hard to say where it is to be found.”
Ask your students to reflect on this statement. What do they know now that they didn’t when they were younger?
“Integrity and firmness is all I can promise; these, be the voyage long or short, never shall forsake me though I be deserted by all men.”
Discuss the definition of the word “integrity” with your students. How can they display integrity in their own “voyages”?
“Patience is a noble virtue, and, when rightly exercised, does not fail of its reward.”
Journal prompt: Think about a time in your own life when you were rewarded by having patience.
“It is much easier at all times to prevent an evil than to rectify mistakes.”
Ask students to look for examples of times when preventing a problem would have been much easier than dealing with the aftermath. Is Washington’s statement always true?
“I hate deception, even where the imagination only is concerned.”
Lying to yourself is still lying. Invite students to reflect on times when they needed to be honest with themselves.
“Without virtue, and without integrity, the finest talents and the most brilliant accomplishments can never gain the respect, and conciliate the esteem, of the truly valuable part of mankind.”
The downfall of many major athletes, musicians, politicians, and more show Washington’s statement to be true. Can your students find examples to prove his point?
“From thinking proceeds speaking; thence to acting is often but a single step. But how irrevocable and tremendous!”
Reflect on times when a small action had major consequences, either good or bad.
“Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire called conscience.”
Washington pictured his conscience as a “celestial fire.” Ask your students what they picture their conscience as—a little voice in their mind? A tiny person deep inside? Their answers may surprise you.
“There is nothing so likely to produce peace as to be well prepared to meet the enemy.”
This makes an excellent debate topic: Do you need to have a strong military so that you never need to use it?
“I never say anything of a man that I have the smallest scruple of saying to him.”
Pull out this quote to point out the dangers of talking about people behind their backs.
“Why should I expect to be exempt from censure; the unfailing lot of an elevated station?”
Should powerful people be exempt from reproach? In a time when powerful political leaders are being called into court to answer for their actions, this quote is more relevant than ever.
“It is an old adage that honesty is the best policy—this applies to public as well as private life—to States as well as individuals.”
Journal prompt: Is there ever a time when honesty is NOT the best policy?
“Happiness depends more upon the internal frame of a person’s own mind—than on the externals in the world.”
As we emphasize the importance of student mental health, Washington’s words continue to ring true.
“Painful as the task is to describe the dark side of our affairs, it sometimes becomes a matter of indispensable necessity.”
Why is it so important to bring our misdeeds to light? Who benefits when we do?
“For it is a fixed principle with me, that whatever is done should be done well.”
Always try your best. Even Washington can’t ask anything more!
More George Washington Quotes
Throughout his life, Washington had a little bit to say on just about every topic! Here are more interesting and inspirational quotes from the Father of Our Country.
“I commend you, however, for passing the time in as merry a manner as you possibly could; it is assuredly better to go laughing than crying thro’ the rough journey of life.”
Washington clearly believed in enjoying the small things in life. Encourage your students (and yourself!) to do the same.
“It is in vain, I perceive, to look for ease and happiness in a world of troubles.”
Washington clearly had his own struggles to stay positive. Ask your students: Have you ever felt like it’s just a “world of troubles”?
“Knowledge is in every country the surest basis of public happiness.”
Journal prompt: Is it true that knowledge makes people happier? Or do you instead believe that “ignorance is bliss”?
“The Arts and Sciences, essential to the prosperity of the State and to the ornament of human life, have a primary claim to the encouragement of every lover of his country and mankind.”
Topic for discussion: Are the arts and sciences essential to our prosperity as a country?
“Heroes have made poets, and poets heroes.”
Find examples of heroes lauded in poetry to support both parts of this claim.
“The motives which predominate most in human affairs [are] self-love and self-interest.”
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Debate topic: Are people essentially selfish at heart?
“Human happiness and moral duty are inseparably connected.”
Washington believed that if you shirked your duty, whatever that might be, you couldn’t be happy. Do your students agree?
“Love is said to be an involuntary passion, and it is, therefore, contended that it cannot be resisted. This is true in part only, for like all things else, when nourished and supplied plentifully with ailment, it is rapid in its progress; but let these be withdrawn and it may be stifled in its birth or much stinted in its growth.”
In other words, Washington believed love doesn’t necessarily conquer all. How do your students feel about this statement?
“Love is a mighty pretty thing; but like all other delicious things, it is cloying; and when the first transports of the passion begins to subside, which it assuredly will do, and yield—oftentimes too late—to more sober reflections, it serves to evince, that love is too dainty a food to live upon alone.”
Washington also believed that man cannot live on love alone, opening up an interesting discussion topic: What else is required for a strong romantic relationship?
“I am not only retired from all public employments, but I am retiring within myself, and shall be able to view the solitary walk and tread the paths of private life with heartfelt satisfaction.”
When it came time to retire from public life, Washington was very glad to do so. As a teacher, do you look forward to retiring from the classroom? What will you do with your life afterwards?
“A natural parent has only two things principally to consider, the improvement of his son, and the finances to do it with.”
Even Washington complained about the price of education! Why is education so expensive in the United States? Ask your students to ponder this topic.
“Though, in reviewing the incidents of my administration, I am unconscious of intentional error, I am nevertheless too sensible of my defects not to think it probable that I may have committed many errors.”
Several hundred years later, we can look back at Washington’s presidency with the advantage of time. Was he right? Did he commit “many errors”? What were some of those errors, by today’s standards?
“With a heart full of love and gratitude, I now take leave of you. I most devoutly wish that your later days may be as prosperous and happy as your former ones have been glorious and honorable.”
Washington stepped down from office voluntarily, surprising the nation and establishing a major precedent for presidents. Read his entire farewell address with your class, and talk about how his choice affected the nation, then and in the following years.
“We should amuse our evening hours of life in cultivating the tender plants, and bringing them to perfection, before they are transplanted to a happier clime.”
What is Washington using plants as a metaphor for in this statement? Where is the “happier clime”?
“I will move gently down the stream of life until I sleep with my fathers.”
Journal prompt: What does this statement say about how Washington viewed life and death?
“I am just going. Have me decently buried; and do not let my body be put into the Vault in less than three days after I am dead. … Tis well.”
Students might be amused to learn Washington was afraid of being buried alive, which was why he asked for his funeral to be postponed by three days.
“It is well, I die hard, but I am not afraid to go.”
As a class, learn more about Washington’s final illness and death. Why was he “not afraid to go”? What faith sustained him?
Apocryphal George Washington Quotes
When someone becomes as famous and beloved as George Washington has, it’s pretty likely that myths and legends will spring up. That’s definitely true for Washington—here are some quotes attributed to him that he never really said at all.
Misquote: “I cannot tell a lie, Pa. I did cut it with my hatchet.”
Sorry to burst your bubble, but the story about Washington chopping down the cherry tree is a myth. His first biographer created the story, and it caught on like wildfire. Read an account of this legend, and discuss why it became so popular.
Misquote: “It is impossible to rightly govern a nation without God and the Bible.”
This is another invention from a biography written decades after Washington died. Though Washington was certainly a man of faith, there’s no evidence he ever made this statement.
Misquote: “When government takes away citizens’ right to bear arms, it becomes citizens’ duty to take away government’s right to govern.”
No one quite knows how this quote became attributed to Washington, but it simply doesn’t appear in any of his recorded writings or speeches. Encourage your students to see if they can find examples of this misquote used incorrectly, and talk about the dangers of misinformation.
Misquote: “Make the most of the Indian hemp seed and sow it everywhere.”
Yes, George Washington grew hemp at Mount Vernon. But it wasn’t for the reason your students might think, and this misquote twists his words on the cultivation of the crop. Read the real quote here, and have students research the non-recreational uses of hemp as a cash crop.
Misquote: “It’s wonderful what we can do if we’re always doing.”
This one is close to true, but it was actually said by another Founding Father, Thomas Jefferson. Explore more spurious George Washington quotes with your class at the Mount Vernon website.
Don’t forget to download your free George Washington posters, featuring five of our favorite quotes for the classroom.
