Happy President's Day!  I thought I would share some of the thoughts and ideas of two of our great presidents, Washington and Lincoln . . .

George Washington:

• It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one
• Worry is the interest paid by those who borrow trouble
• Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master
• Bad seed is a robbery of the worst kind: for your pocket-book not only suffers by it, but your preparations are lost and a season passes away unimproved
• Truth will ultimately prevail where there is pains to bring it to light
• Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder
• If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter
• The marvel of all history is the patience with which men and women submit to burdens unnecessarily laid upon them by their governments
• Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence
• 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
• Associate with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation; for it is better to be alone than in bad company
• True friendship is a plant of slow growth, and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity, before it is entitled to the appellation

Abraham Lincoln:

• The best way to get a bad law repealed is to enforce it strictly
• Marriage is neither heaven nor hell, it is simply purgatory
• Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe
• Most folks are as happy as they make up their minds to be
• Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt
• Everybody likes a compliment
• Common looking people are the best in the world: that is the reason the Lord makes so many of them
• Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them?
• I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts
• And in the end it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years
• I do not think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday
• A house divided against itself cannot stand
• I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice
• It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues
• Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other
• Tact is the ability to describe others as they see themselves
• A friend is one who has the same enemies as you have
• America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves

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Related posts:
Words of Wisdom: Abraham Lincoln
Words of Wisdom: A Ben Franklin Recap
Words of Wisdom: Ideas DDFD Expresses Almost Daily . . .
The Bill of Rights (Our Rights . . . Lest We Forget)