“There might, Gentlemen, be an impropriety in my taking notice, in this Address to you, of an anonymous production — but the manner in which that performance has been introduced to the Army — the effect it was intended to have, together with some other circumstances, will amply justify my observations on the tendency of that Writing.”

—  George Washington

1780s, The Newburgh Address (1783)
Context: There might, Gentlemen, be an impropriety in my taking notice, in this Address to you, of an anonymous production — but the manner in which that performance has been introduced to the Army — the effect it was intended to have, together with some other circumstances, will amply justify my observations on the tendency of that Writing. With respect to the advice given by the Author — to suspect the Man, who shall recommend moderate measures and longer forbearance — I spurn it — as every Man, who regards that liberty, & reveres that Justice for which we contend, undoubtedly must — for if Men are to be precluded from offering their sentiments on a matter, which may involve the most serious and alarming consequences, that can invite the consideration of Mankind; reason is of no use to us — the freedom of Speech may be taken away — and, dumb & silent we may be led, like sheep, to the Slaughter.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Sept. 27, 2023. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "There might, Gentlemen, be an impropriety in my taking notice, in this Address to you, of an anonymous production — but…" by George Washington?
George Washington photo
George Washington 186
first President of the United States 1732–1799

Related quotes

Frédéric Chopin photo

“Here you doubtless observe my tendency to do wrong against my will.”

Frédéric Chopin (1810–1849) Polish composer

As quoted when he talked about his piano concerto, op.11.
Context: Here you doubtless observe my tendency to do wrong against my will. As something has involuntarily crept into my head through my eyes, I love to indulge it, even though it may be all wrong.

Edmund Burke photo

“Circumstances (which with some gentlemen pass for nothing) give in reality to every political principle its distinguishing colour, and discriminating effect. The circumstances are what render every civil and political scheme beneficial or noxious to mankind.”

Edmund Burke book Reflections on the Revolution in France

Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790)

Jay Leiderman photo

“You shouldn’t think for a minute that politicians and other organizations are not taking what has been learned from Anonymous and applying it to their outreach strategies. Anonymous has been extremely successful in mobilization and has shown how strong a crowdsourced effort could truly be”

Jay Leiderman (1971) lawyer

As mentioned in the mint press http://www.mintpressnews.com/anonymous-revolutionized-revolt/200200/

Mohamad Sabu photo

“Thus far, they (Eastern Sabah Security Command security forces) have performed their best and we need to increase their welfare. This is my determination along with the army, police and other enforcement bodies to intensify their service together.”

Mohamad Sabu (1954) Defence Minister of Malaysia

Mohamad Sabu (2018) cited in " Mat Sabu: Trilateral maritime patrols have reduced crime in Sulu sea https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2018/10/419130/mat-sabu-trilateral-maritime-patrols-have-reduced-crime-sulu-sea" on New Straits Times, 8 October 2018

John Ruskin photo

“My entire delight was in observing without being myself noticed,— if I could have been invisible, all the better.”

John Ruskin (1819–1900) English writer and art critic

Praeterita, volume I, chapter IX (1885-1889).
Context: My entire delight was in observing without being myself noticed,— if I could have been invisible, all the better. I was absolutely interested in men and their ways, as I was interested in marmots and chamois, in tomtits and trout. If only they would stay still and let me look at them, and not get into their holes and up their heights! The living inhabitation of the world — the grazing and nesting in it, — the spiritual power of the air, the rocks, the waters, to be in the midst of it, and rejoice and wonder at it, and help it if I could, — happier if it needed no help of mine, — this was the essential love of Nature in me, this the root of all that I have usefully become, and the light of all that I have rightly learned.

T. E. Lawrence photo

“Some of the evil of my tale may have been inherent in our circumstances.”

T. E. Lawrence book Seven Pillars of Wisdom

Source: Seven Pillars of Wisdom (1922), Ch. 1
Context: Some of the evil of my tale may have been inherent in our circumstances. For years we lived anyhow with one another in the naked desert, under the indifferent heaven. By day the hot sun fermented us; and we were dizzied by the beating wind. At night we were stained by dew, and shamed into pettiness by the innumerable silences of stars. We were a self-centred army without parade or gesture, devoted to freedom, the second of man's creeds, a purpose so ravenous that it devoured all our strength, a hope so transcendent that our earlier ambitions faded in its glare.

Stephen R. Covey photo

“I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions.”

Stephen R. Covey (1932–2012) American educator, author, businessman and motivational speaker
Fryderyk Skarbek photo

“Adam Smith, Say, and especially C. J. Kraus, one of the best teachers of Adam Smith’s theory, are my guides. The aim of my work is to present, in my own arrangement, their writings and thoughts clearly and plainly, together with some of my own observations.”

Fryderyk Skarbek (1792–1866) Polish noble

Introduction: Cited in: Hiroshi Mizuta, A Critical Bibliography of Adam Smith, Routledge, 20116. p. 173.
National Household, 1820

Norman Rockwell photo

“Without thinking too much about it in specific terms, I was showing the America I knew and observed to others who might not have noticed. My fundamental purpose is to interpret the typical American. I am a story teller.”

Norman Rockwell (1894–1978) Armatian

As quoted in Fodor's New England (2008) by Debbie Harmsen, p. 194

Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. photo

“Gentlemen, to the lady without whom I should never have survived for eighty, nor sixty, nor yet thirty years. Her smile has been my lyric, her understanding, the rhythm of the stanza. She has been the spring wherefrom I have drawn the power to write the words. She is the poem of my life.”

Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. (1841–1935) United States Supreme Court justice

Attribution reported in Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations (1989), which states that this is not verified in works about him nor in Magnificent Yankee, the film about him. Holmes expressed a similar sentiment in a letter to Sir Frederick Pollock (May 24, 1929): "For sixty years she made life poetry for me". Mark De Wolfe Howe, ed., Holmes-Pollock Letters (1941), vol. 2, p. 243.
Attributions

Related topics