You Never Forget Your First Quotes

“Political partisanship, Washington predicted, would reduce the government to a crowd of bickering representatives who were very good at thwarting each other but got very little accomplished for their constituents. And for all his talk of unity, he had come to see people as for or against his administration and had little patience for criticism. Unbridled partisanship was his greatest fear, and his greatest failure was that he became increasingly partisan.”
― Alexis Coe, You Never Forget Your First: A Biography of George Washington

“The next time he would join them on the battlefield, it would be to destroy them.”
― Alexis Coe, You Never Forget Your First: A Biography of George Washington

“In my estimation more permanent & genuine happiness is to be found in the sequestered walks of connubial life,” Washington wrote, “than in the giddy rounds of promiscuous pleasure, or the more tumultuous and imposing scenes of successful ambition.”
― Alexis Coe, You Never Forget Your First: A Biography of George Washington

“When France experienced its own, led by Napoleon Bonaparte, he did not step down from power, but rather declared himself emperor. Years later, he would say, “They wanted me to be another Washington.”13 But he couldn’t be. No one could.”
― Alexis Coe, You Never Forget Your First: A Biography of George Washington

“offer the commander in chief of the Continental Army (which one imagines he said while miming scare quotes)”
― Alexis Coe, You Never Forget Your First: A Biography of George Washington

“Political partisanship, Washington predicted, would reduce the government to a crowd of bickering representatives who were very good at thwarting each other but got very little accomplished for their constituents.”
― Alexis Coe, You Never Forget Your First: A Biography of George Washington

“Washington worries about respect and reputation. He needn’t have; the nation hasn’t always remembered him clearly, but we’ve never forgotten our first.”
― Alexis Coe, You Never Forget Your First: A Biography of George Washington

“She later wrote to her sister-in-law, “I now know that the worthy man is to be preferred to the high-born.”4”
― Alexis Coe, You Never Forget Your First: A Biography of George Washington

“Everyone knows that, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, a woman is probably a shrew. And shrews, of course, need taming.”
― Alexis Coe, You Never Forget Your First: A Biography of George Washington

“THE ABRIDGED RULES OF CIVILITY NUMBER RULE 2 When in Company, put not your Hands to any Part of the Body, not usualy Discovered. 7 Put not off your Cloths in the presence of Others, nor go out your Chambers half Drest. 24 Do not laugh too loud or too much at any Publick [Spectacle]. 54 Play not the Peacock, looking every where about you, to See if you be well Deck’t, if your Shoes fit well if your Stockings sit neatly, and Cloths handsomely. 56 Associate yourself with Men of good Quality if you Esteem your own Reputation; for ’tis better to be alone than in bad Company. 73 Think before you Speak pronounce not imperfectly nor bring ou[t] your Words too hastily but orderly & distinctly. 82 Undertake not what you cannot Perform but be Carefull to keep your Promise. 90 Being Set at meal Scratch not neither Spit Cough or blow your Nose except there’s a Necessity for it. 92 Take no Salt or cut Bread with your Knife Greasy. 100 Cleanse not your teeth with the Table Cloth Napkin Fork or Knife but if Others do it let it be done wt. a Pick Tooth.”
― Alexis Coe, You Never Forget Your First: A Biography of George Washington

“Washington doled them out carefully, especially when it came to family members; he could abide entry-level nepotism for his nephew Robert Lewis, but he declined to offer a legal job to another nephew, Bushrod, because his “standing at the bar would not justify my nomination,” and “the eyes of Argus are upon me, and no slip will pass unnoticed that can be improved into a supposed partiality for friends or relations.”
― Alexis Coe, You Never Forget Your First: A Biography of George Washington

“I shall rely therefore, confidently, on that Providence which has heretofore preservd, & been bountiful to me, not doubting but that I shall return safe to you in the fall.”
― Alexis Coe, You Never Forget Your First: A Biography of George Washington