George Washington, letter to William Livingston (December 7, 1779), reported in Theodore Sedgwick, A Memoire of the Life of William Livingston (1833), p. 343.

To persevere in one's duty and be silent is the best answer to calumny.

— George Washington on Evil speaking

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "To persevere in one's duty and be silent is the best answer to calumny." in the context of "George Washington, letter to William Livingston (December 7, 1779), reported in Theodore Sedgwick, A Memoire of the Life of William Livingston (1833), p. 343." to mean that wisdom is timeless.

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