Grand Opening at George Washington Inn, Port Angeles, WA - Presidents' Day, 2008

The Faith and Wisdom of George Washington

• Let us raise a standard to which the wise and the honest can repair. The event is in the hand of God.
• By the all-powerful dispensations of Providence, I have been protected beyond all human probability and expectation; for I had four bullets through my coat, and two horses shot under me, yet escaped unhurt, altho' death was levelling my companions on every side.
• Let us therefore rely upon the goodness of the Cause, and the aid of the supreme Being, in whose hands Victory is, to animate and encourage us to great and noble Actions.
• Your love of liberty - your respect for the laws - your habits of industry - and your practice of the moral and religious obligations, are the strongest claims to national and individual happiness.
• A good moral character is the first essential in a man, and that the habits contracted at your age are generally indelible, and your conduct here may stamp your character through life. It is therefore highly important that you should endeavor not only to be learned but virtuous.
• The blessed Religion revealed in the word of God will remain an eternal and awful monument to prove that the best Institution may be abused by human depravity; and that they may even, in some instances be made subservient to the vilest purposes.
• It is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favors.
• I now make it my earnest prayer, that God would have you, and the State over which you preside, in his holy protection, that he would incline the hearts of the Citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to Government, to entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another, for their fellow Citizens of the United States at large, and particularly for their brethren who have served in the Field, and finally, that he would most graciously be pleased to dispose us all, to do Justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that Charity, humility and pacific temper of mind, which were the Characteristicks of the Divine Author of our blessed Religion, and without an humble imitation of whose example in these things, we can never hope to be a happy Nation.
• May the father of all mercies scatter light, and not darkness, upon our paths, and make us in all our several vocations useful here, and in His own due time and way everlastingly happy.
• Let the poor, the needy and oppressed of the Earth, and those who want Land, resort to the fertile plains of our western country, the second land of Promise, and there dwell in peace, fulfilling the first and great commandment.
• The propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which Heaven itself has ordained.
• The Hand of providence has been so conspicuous in all this, that he must be worse than an infidel that lacks faith, and more than wicked, that has not gratitude enough to acknowledge his obligations.
• Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indespensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism who should labor to subvert these great pilliars of human happiness.
• I have often expressed my sentiments, that every man, conducting himself as a good citizen, and being accountable to God alone for his religious opinions, ought to be protected in worshipping the Deity according to the dictates of his own conscience.
• The liberty enjoyed by the people of these states of worshiping Almighty God agreeably to their conscience, is not only among the choicest of their blessings, but also of their rights.
• We have abundant reason to rejoice that in this Land the light of truth and reason has triumphed over the power of bigotry and superstition, and that every person may here worship God according to the dictates of his own heart. In this enlightened Age and in this Land of equal liberty it is our boast, that a man's religious tenets will not forfeit the protection of the Laws, nor deprive him of the right of attaining and holding the highest Offices that are known in the United States.
• No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand, which conducts the Affairs of men more than the People of the United States. Every step, by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation, seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency.
• The propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which Heaven itself has ordained.
• You do well to wish to learn our arts and our ways of life and above all, the religion of Jesus Christ.
• Without an humble imitation of the characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed religion, we can never hope to be a happy nation.
• Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire called conscience.
• Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder.
• To contract new debts is not the way to pay old ones.
• Associate yourself with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation for 'tis better to be alone than in bad company.
• A government is like fire, a handy servant, but a dangerous master.
• The foolish and wicked practice of profane cursing and swearing is a vice so mean and low that every person of sense and character detests and despises it.
• I attribute my success in life to the moral, intellectual and physical education which I received from my mother.
• If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.
• To be prepared for War is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace.
• Mankind, when left to themselves, are unfit for their own government.
• There is no truth more thoroughly established than that there exists in the economy and course of nature an indissoluble union between virtue and happiness.
• Refrain from drink which is the source of all evil--and the ruin of half the workmen in this Country.
• The determinations of Providence are always wise, often inscrutable; and, though its decrees appear to bear hard upon us at times, is nevertheless meant for gracious purposes.
• I am sure that never was a people, who had more reason to acknowledge a Divine interposition in their affairs, than those of the United States: and I should be pained to believe that they have forgotten that agency, that was so often manifested during our Revolution, or that they failed to consider the omnipotence of that God who is alone able to protect them.
• I die hard but am not afraid to go.