Today’s federal holiday (officially) marks George Washington’s birthday, which in reality falls on Feb. 22, but due to a bill called Uniform Holidays Bill, and a bunch of other boring bureaucratic stuff, it is now always falls on a Monday, and is (informally) called Presidents Day.
In honor of his birthday, here are a few quotes from our first president, George Washington. (Source, Brainyquote.com).
If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.
Observe good faith and justice toward all nations. Cultivate peace and harmony with all.
To be prepared for war is one of the most effective means of preserving peace.
Arbitrary power is most easily established on the ruins of liberty abused to licentiousness.
Let your heart feel for the afflictions and distress of everyone, and let your hand give in proportion to your purse.
My first wish is to see this plague of mankind, war, banished from the earth.
Laws made by common consent must not be trampled on by individuals.
It will be found an unjust and unwise jealousy to deprive a man of his natural liberty upon the supposition he may abuse it.
I hope I shall possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an honest man.
The time is near at hand which must determine whether Americans are to be free men or slaves.
President Abraham Lincoln, who was born on Feb. 12, doesn’t have an official holiday, which is why, over time, people morphed the Monday holiday to include him, because he was so great, and later, all presidents. Here are some thoughts from our 16th president:
My dream is of a place and a time where America will once again be seen as the last best hope of earth.
Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?
America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.
If the great American people will only keep their temper, on both sides of the line, the troubles will come to an end, and the question which now distracts the country will be settled just as surely as all other difficulties of like character which have originated in this government have been adjusted.
With Malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds.
Books serve to show a man that those original thoughts of his aren’t very new at all.
Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally.
How many legs does a dog have if you call his tail a leg? Four. Saying that a tail is a leg doesn’t make it a leg.
If this is coffee, please bring me some tea; but if this is tea, please bring me some coffee.
Happy George Washington’s Birthday/Presidents Day. Let’s celebrate their wisdom.
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