evidence: FACT CHECK: Did George Washington Call Government ‘A Dangerous Servant And A Fearful Master’? An image shared on Facebook claims that President George Washington once said, "Government is not reason; it is not eloquence; it is force. [...] According to the website Quote Investigator, the depiction of government as "a dangerous servant and a fearful master" is reminiscent of a centuries-old saying about water and fire. "Water is a very good seruaunt, but it is a cruell mayster," reads an excerpt from 1562.