"Washington had always taught himself from experience. He learned the lessons of the American war all the more readily because he had no conventional lessons to unlearn. … Long before the end of the war, Washington had become much more effective than any of his military opponents. But this did not mean that what he had taught himself would have made him a great general on the battlefields of Europe. Evolved not from theory but from dealing with specific problems, his preeminence was achieved through a Darwinian adaptation to environment. It was the triumph of a man who knows how to learn, not in the narrow sense of studying other people's conceptions, but in the transcendent sense of making a synthesis from the totality of experience. Among the legacies of the Revolution to the new nation, the most widely recognized and admired was a man: George Washington. He had no rivals."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Presidents of the United StatesMilitary leaders from the United StatesFreemasonsFounding Fathers of the United States of AmericaNationalists
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
James Thomas Flexner in Washington : The Indispensable Man (1984), Chapter 23 : Goodbye to War, p. 183
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_Washington
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
George Washington
1732 – 1799
1. Präsident der USA (1789-1797)
280 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by George Washington →
Related Quotes
"When we assumed the Soldier, we did not lay aside the Citizen."
"Every post is honorable in which a man can serve his country."
"Nothing is a greater stranger to my breast, or a sin that my soul more abhors, than that black and detestable one, in…"
"Tis true, I profess myself a Votary to Love — I acknowledge that a Lady is in the Case — and further I confess, that …"
"Discipline is the soul of an army. It makes small numbers formidable; procures success to the weak, and esteem to all."
"The General is sorry to be informed —, that the foolish and wicked practice of profane cursing and swearing, a vice h…"
"Unhappy it is though to reflect, that a Brother's Sword has been sheathed in a Brother's breast, and that, the once h…"
"As to pay, Sir, I beg leave to assure the Congress that as no pecuniary consideration could have tempted me to accept…"
"But lest some unlucky event should happen unfavorable to my reputation, I beg it may be remembered by every gentleman…"
"The reflection upon my situation, and that of this army, produces many an uneasy hour, when all around me are wrapped…"