George Washington, letter to George Mason (March 27, 1779), in John C. Fitzpatrick, ed., The Writings of George Washington (1936), vol. 14, p. 300.
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I have beheld no day since the commencement of hostilities that I have thought her liberties in such eminent danger as at present. Friends and foes seem now to combine to pull down the goodly fabric as we have hitherto been raising at the expence of so much time, blood, and treasure; and unless the bodies politick will exert themselves to bring things back to first principles, correct abuses, and punish our internal foes, inevitable ruin must follow.

— George Washington on Enemies

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "I have beheld no day since the commencement of hostilities that I have thought her liberties in such eminent danger as at present. Friends and foes seem now to combine to pull down the goodly fabric as we have hitherto been raising at the expence of so much time, blood, and treasure; and unless the bodies politick will exert themselves to bring things back to first principles, correct abuses, and punish our internal foes, inevitable ruin must follow." in the context of "George Washington, letter to George Mason (March 27, 1779), in John C. Fitzpatrick, ed., The Writings of George Washington (1936), vol. 14, p. 300." to mean that wisdom is timeless.

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Source: Wikiquote: "Enemies" (Quotes, Enemies from within) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed February 05, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app

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#George Washington#foes#commencement#hostilities#themselves#principles#inevitable#liberties#hitherto#treasure#politick#internal
George Washington

About George Washington

George Washington (22 February 1732 – 14 December 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Second Continental Congress as commander of the Continental Army in June 1775, Washington led Patriot forces to victory in the American Revolutionary War and then served as president of the Constitutional Convention in 1787, which drafted and ratified the Constitution of the United States and established the American federal government. Washington has thus been called the "Father of his Country".