Almighty and eternal Lord God, the great Creator of heaven and earth, and the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; look down from heaven in pity and compassion upon me thy servant, who humbly prostrate myself before thee.
George WashingtonRead
We beseech [God] to pardon our national and other transgressions.
Interpretation
This quote expresses a call for divine forgiveness for a nation's wrongdoings.
George Washington's quote highlights the significance of humility and repentance on a national level. It reflects the understanding that as a collective, a nation must seek forgiveness for its failures and wrong actions, acknowledging that only through divine grace can they hope to correct their course and grow morally.
In practice
In a speech about national unity, one could quote Washington to emphasize the need for collective growth and forgiveness.
Almighty and eternal Lord God, the great Creator of heaven and earth, and the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; look down from heaven in pity and compassion upon me thy servant, who humbly prostrate myself before thee.
If, in the opinion of the people, the distribution or modification of the constitutional powers be in any particular wrong, let it be corrected by an amendment in the way which the Constitution designates. But let there be no change by usurpation; for though this, in one instance, may be the instrument of good, it is the customary weapon by which free governments are destroyed.
The duty of holding a Neutral conduct may be inferred, without any thing more, from the obligation which justice and humanity impose on every nation, in cases in which it is free to act, to maintain inviolate the relations of Peace and amity toward other Nations.
We began a contest for liberty ill provided with the means for the war, relying on our patriotism to supply the deficiency. We expected to encounter many wants and distressed we must bear the present evils and fortitude
What is most important of this grand experiment, the United States? Not the election of the first president but the election of its second president. The peaceful transition of power is what will separate this country from every other country in the world.
Perseverance and spirit have done wonders in all ages.
All things are created twice. There's a mental or first creation, and a physical or second creation to all things
I want to die a slave to principles. Not to men.
Balm of the summer night, balm of the ordinary, imperial joy and sorrow of human existence, the dreamed as well as the livedβ what could be dearer than this, given the closeness of death?
[Government] regulation is an imperfect substitute for the accountability, and trust, built into a market in which food producers meet the gaze of eaters and vice versa.
No system of religion should go in partnership with barbarism. Neither should any Christian feel it his duty to defend the savagery of the past.
Power was my weakness and my temptation.
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