Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
Washington recognizes that his actions as president will set precedents for future officeholders.
In plain terms
Doing something for the first time sets a rule for later.
What can you take from it?
First actions in leadership shape future expectations.

Where it applies

  • founding institutions
  • executive decisions
  • rule making

Putting it to work

  • act with long-term view
  • document decisions clearly

Questions to consider

  • How do you start something new?
  • What precedents matter most?

Another view

Rigid adherence to precedent can hinder adaptation to new challenges.

More from George Washington

  1. If this nation expects to be ignorant and free it expects what never was and what will never be.

    Permalink to quote #89
  2. I know of no pursuit in which more real and important services can be rendered to any country than by improving its agriculture, its breed of useful animals, a…

    Permalink to quote #87
  3. 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…

    Permalink to quote #90

Related quotes

  1. I was thus appointed in the year 1943, two years before the conclusion of the war, into office. I would like to explain however that from the beginning, I happ…

    Ernst KaltenbrunnerErnst Kaltenbrunner quote #27
  2. War is inevitable, and this time, it will be truly world wide. It will unravel everywhere and there will be no limit to its battlefields. The condemnations of …

    Otto SkorzenyOtto Skorzeny quote #1
  3. You can see that there were no strong characters surrounding Hitler. There were only weaklings like Ribbentrop, Funk, and so forth. Hitler wanted a silent audi…

    Paul SchmidtPaul Schmidt quote #1