I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.
PATRICK HENRYit is natural to man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren till she transforms us into beasts.
More Patrick Henry Quotes
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Liberty, the greatest of all earthly blessings – give us that precious jewel and you may take everything else!
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The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave.
PATRICK HENRY -
I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!
PATRICK HENRY -
Three millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us. Beside, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of Nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us.
PATRICK HENRY -
I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience.
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For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst and to provide for it.
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The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government – lest it come to dominate our lives and interests.
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Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!
PATRICK HENRY -
This is all the inheritance I give to my dear family. The religion of Christ will give them one which will make them rich indeed.
PATRICK HENRY -
it is natural to man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren till she transforms us into beasts.
PATRICK HENRY -
Mr. President, it is natural to man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren till she transforms us into beasts.
PATRICK HENRY -
When the American spirit was in its youth, the language of America was different: Liberty, sir, was the primary object.
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The battle, Sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, Sir, we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable; and let it come! I repeat, Sir, let it come!
PATRICK HENRY -
I have now disposed of all my property to my family. There is one thing more I wish I could give them, and that is the Christian Religion. If they had that and I had not given them one shilling they would have been rich; and if they had not that and I had given them all the world, they would be poor.
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It is the business of a virtuous clergy to censure vice in every appearance of it.
PATRICK HENRY -
Will preserve it but downright force. When you give up that force, you are ruined.
PATRICK HENRY -
I am not a Virginian, but an American.
PATRICK HENRY -
Give me liberty or give me death.
PATRICK HENRY -
A King, by disallowing Acts of this salutary nature, from being the father of his people, degenerated into a Tyrant and forfeits all rights to his subjects’ obedience.
PATRICK HENRY -
Bad men cannot make good citizens. A vitiated state of morals, a corrupted public conscience are incompatible with freedom.
PATRICK HENRY -
Are we at last brought to such a humiliating and debasing degradation, that we cannot be trusted with arms for our own defense?
PATRICK HENRY -
Patrick Henry wanted the Constitution to have a Bill of Rights attached to it — a list of powers that the government could never use against the people of the United States.
PATRICK HENRY -
The distinctions between Virginians, Pennsylvanians, New Yorkers, and New Englanders are no more. I Am Not A Virginian, But An American!
PATRICK HENRY -
I smell a rat.
PATRICK HENRY -
Caesar had his Brutus, Charles the First his Cromwell; and George the Third — [‘Treason!’ cried the Speaker] — may profit by their example. If this be treason, make the most of it.
PATRICK HENRY -
United we stand, divided we fall. Let us not split into factions which must destroy that union upon which our existence hangs.
PATRICK HENRY