George Washington's Rules of Civility & Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation »

George Washington was born in Virginia in 1732. As a young man, he learned the morals, manners, and knowledge necessary to become a Virginia gentleman. He was particularly interested in the military arts and western expansion. At the age of 16, he helped survey Shenandoah lands. At the age of 22, he was commissioned a lieutenant colonel and fought in the first battles of what became the French and Indian War. Unanimously elected as the first President of the United States, Washington served two terms before retiring to Mount Vernon. He passed away on December 14, 1799.

These 110 rules had a formative influence on George Washington.

The 110 rules that George Washington copied into his early notebooks and lived by all his life - from such rules as "Spit not in the fire" to "Sleep not when others speak."