“Be courteous to all but intimate with few and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence.”
More from George Washington on Wisdom
“I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to private affairs, that honesty is always the best policy.”
“There is nothing so likely to produce peace as to be well prepared to meet the enemy”
“Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder.”
“Be courteous to all but intimate with few and let those few be well-tried before you give them your confidence.”
“Associate yourself with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation for 'tis better to be alone than in bad company.”
“To persevere in one's duty and be silent is the best answer to calumny.”
“Undertake not what you cannot perform but be careful to keep your promise.”
“Associate with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation for it is better to be alone than in bad company.”
“Let your Discourse with Men of Business be Short and Comprehensive.”
“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.”
Others on Wisdom
Sun Tzu
30 quotes“Do not swallow bait offered by the enemy. Do not interfere with an army that is returning home.”
Dalai Lama
22 quotes“Compassion is the radicalism of our time.”
Cervantes
20 quotes“A closed mouth catches no flies.”
Aesop
19 quotes“Little by little does the trick.”
Confucius
19 quotes“The gem cannot be polished without friction nor man perfected without trials.”
Ben Franklin
18 quotes“Be slow in choosing a friend, slower in changing.”
Napoleon
16 quotes“Ability is of little account without opportunity.”
Cicero
15 quotes“Great is the power of habit. It teaches us to bear fatigue and to despise wounds and pain.”
Rudyard Kipling
14 quotes“I keep six honest serving men. (They taught me all I know) Their names are What and Why and When and How and Where and...”
Khalil Gibran
14 quotes“Perplexity is the beginning of knowledge.”
William Penn
14 quotes“Knowledge is the treasure of a wise man.”
George R.R. Martin
14 quotes“This was how an enemy should be dealt with: with a dagger, not a declaration.”