George Washington’s Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation is a set of 110 precepts or maxims on such matters as how to dress, how to walk, how to eat in public, and how to behave correctly in the company of superiors and equals. While containing the clear guidance in propriety, the rules also address moral issues, albeit somewhat indirectly. The rules are based on a set of precepts found in a treatise “Bienseance de la Conversation” prepared by Jesuit instructors in the 16th century. They were translated into Latin and English, and eventually were translated by the precocious eight-year-old Francis Hawkins into an English version that was published in 1649 and went through eleven editions by 1672. The rules appear on ten pages at the end of the second volume of schoolboy exercises included among the hundreds of Washington manuscripts located in the Library of Congress. Washington copied out these rules at about age 16 as both an exercise in handwriting and as a means to master topics worthy of consideration in the building of character, and thus important to a young man on the verge entering into adulthood.
– From the “Origin of the Rules of Civility”, by Charles Moore, 1926

“…a solicitude for your welfare, which cannot end but with my life, and the apprehension of danger, natural to that solicitude, urge me, on an occasion like the present, to offer to your solemn contemplation, and to recommend to your frequent review, some sentiments which are the result of much reflection…and which appear to me all-important to the permanency of your felicity as a people…interwoven as is the love of liberty with every ligament of your hearts, no recommendation of mine is necessary to fortify or confirm the attachment…”Written near the end of his second term as president, “Washington’s Farewell Address,” is more than the empty jargon of a politician – it is nothing short of the heartfelt concern of a gentle leader for his people’s continuing welfare.

Amidst all legend and lore surrounding America’s first president, the brilliant statesman George Washington’s character emerges in this engagingly narrated audiobook through his own words. In this key speech by the former army general, the qualities of integrity, humility, others-focused mission, and concern for human freedoms are clearly seen – qualities that help define “greatness” and which created a lasting legacy that superseded personal gain and extended to shape a national destiny.