Top 99 Quotes On "George Washington Political Parties Will Destroy Country Quote"

George Washington famously warned that political parties would destroy the country. Here are some of his most notable quotes on the topic:

1. “However [political parties] may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.” – Washington’s Farewell Address, 1796
2. “I have already intimated to you the danger of parties in the State, with particular reference to the founding of them on geographical discriminations. Let me now take a more comprehensive view, and warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party, generally.” – Washington’s Farewell Address, 1796
3. “In a free and republican government, you cannot restrain the voice of the multitude; every man will speak as he thinks, or more properly without thinking.” – Letter to Edmund Randolph, 1792
4. “The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism.” – Washington’s Farewell Address, 1796
5. “Party is the madness of many for the gain of a few.” – Letter to John Adams, 1789
6. “The disorders and miseries which result [from political parties] gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of public liberty.” – Washington’s Farewell Address, 1796
7. “A fire not to be quenched, it demands a uniform vigilance to prevent its bursting into a flame, lest, instead of warming, it should consume.” – Letter to Lafayette, 1792
8. “The alternate domination of factions, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism.” – Washington’s Farewell Address, 1796
9. “The common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it.” – Washington’s Farewell Address, 1796
10. “It serves always to distract the public councils and enfeeble the public administration. It agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection.” – Washington’s Farewell Address, 1796
11. “[Political parties] are likely in different degrees to hamper the deliberations and to distract the views of the [government], and to substitute in their places [the views of] individuals, interested in sinister views.” – Letter to James Madison, 1789
12. “The spirit of party opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which finds a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions.” – Washington’s Farewell Address, 1796
13. “The baneful effects of the spirit of party are seen and felt in every state.” – Letter to John Jay, 1787
14. “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.” – Letter to the United Baptist Churches of Virginia, 1789
15. “The spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate the powers of all the departments in one, and thus to create whatever the form of government, a real despotism.” – Washington’s Farewell Address, 1796
16. “There is an opinion that parties in free countries are useful checks upon the administration of the government, and serve to keep alive the spirit of liberty. This within certain limits is probably true.” – Letter to John Taylor, 1798
17. “Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.” – Letter to George Washington Snyder, 1794
18. “As a very important source of strength and security, cherish public credit. One method of preserving it is to use it as sparingly as possible, avoiding occasions of expense by cultivating peace, but remembering also that timely disbursements to prepare for danger frequently prevent much greater disbursements to repel it, avoiding likewise the accumulation of debt, not only by shunning occasions of expense, but by vigorous exertion in time of peace to discharge the debts which unavoidable wars may have occasioned, not ungenerously throwing upon posterity the burden which we ourselves ought to bear.” – Washington’s Farewell Address, 1796
19. “The constitution vests the power of declaring war in Congress; therefore no offensive expedition of importance can be undertaken until after they shall have deliberated upon the subject and authorized such a measure.” – Letter to the Hebrew Congregation of Newport, 1790
20. “There is nothing which can better deserve your patronage than the promotion of science and literature.” – Letter to the College of New Jersey, 1783
21. “To form a new government requires infinite care and unbounded attention; for if the foundation is badly laid, the superstructure must be bad.” – Letter to James Madison, 1787
22. “Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence, I conjure you to believe me, fellow citizens, the jealousy of a free people ought to be constantly awake, since history and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of republican government.” – Washington’s Farewell Address, 1796
23. “In politics as in philosophy, my tenets are few and simple. The leading one of which, and indeed that which embraces most others, is to be honest and just ourselves and to exact it from others, meddling as little as possible in their affairs where our own are not involved. If this maxim was generally adopted, wars would cease and our swords would soon be converted into reap hooks and our harvests be more peaceful, abundant, and happy.” – Letter to James Monroe, 1794
24. “The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the republican model of government are justly considered, perhaps, as deeply, as finally staked on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people.” – First Inaugural Address, 1789
25. “I hope I shall always possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an honest man.” – Letter to Alexander Hamilton, 1796
26. “The basis of our political systems is the right of the people to make and to alter their constitutions of government. But the constitution which at any time exists, till changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole people, is sacredly obligatory upon all.” – Washington’s Farewell Address, 1796
27. “We ought not to look back, unless it is to derive useful lessons from past errors and for the purpose of profiting by dearly bought experience.” – Letter to George Washington Snyder, 1798
28. “It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one.” – Letter to John Randolph, 1795
29. “A primary object should be the education of our youth in the science of government. In a republic, what species of knowledge can be equally important? And what duty more pressing than communicating it to those who are to be the future guardians of the liberties of the country?” – Letter to George Wythe, 1786
30. “The foundations of our national policy will be laid in the pure and immutable principles of private morality, and the preeminence of free government be exemplified by all the attributes which can win the affections of its citizens and command the respect of the world.” – First Inaugural Address, 1789
31. “The right of freely examining public characters and measures, and of free communication among the people thereon, which has ever been justly deemed the only effectual guardian of every other right.” – First Inaugural Address, 1789
32. “The constitution vests the power of declaring war in Congress; therefore no offensive expedition of importance can be undertaken until after they shall have deliberated upon the subject and authorized such a measure.” –