Washington, George

"I conceive that a knowledge of books is the basis on which all other knowledge rests."

"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 grow, and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to the appellation."

"Arbitrary power is most easily established on the ruins of liberty abused to licentiousness."

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

"Friendship is a plant of slow growth and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to the appellation."

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

"There is nothing so likely to produce peace as to be well prepared to meet the enemy."

"My first wish is to see this plague of mankind, war, banished from the earth."