Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations. 1989.
NUMBER:
410
AUTHOR:
George Washington (1732–99)
QUOTATION:
If we desire to avoid insult, we must be able to repel it; if we desire to secure peace, one of the most powerful instruments of our rising prosperity, it must be known, that we are at all times ready for War.
ATTRIBUTION:
President GEORGE WASHINGTON, fifth annual address to Congress, December 13, 1793.—The Writings of George Washington, ed. John C. Fitzpatrick, vol. 33, p. 166 (1940).
