Patrick Henry Quotes

It is the business of a virtuous clergy to censure vice in every appearance of it. ~ Patrick Henry

You shouldn't say I can't until you've tried. ~ Patrick Henry Hughes

I'm sick of all you ammo-phobes being intolerant of my gun. ~ Patrick Henry

We should transmit to posterity our abhorrence of slavery. ~ Patrick Henry

Show me that age and country where the rights and liberties of the people were placed on the sole chance of their rulers being good men, without a consequent loss of liberty? ~ Patrick Henry

I know of no way of judging the future but by the past. ~ Patrick Henry

It is natural to man to indulge in the illusion of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, till she transforms us into beasts. ~ 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. ~ Patrick Henry

A revolution was never fought, throughout history, for ideals. Revolutions were fought for much more concrete things: food, clothes, housing, and to relieve intolerable oppression. ... I know of no one, outside of Patrick Henry, willing to die for an abstraction. ~ William Powell

Bad men cannot make good citizens. A vitiated state of morals, a corrupted public conscience are incompatible with freedom. ~ Patrick Henry

John Knox's dying words were, 'Lord, grant true pastors to Thy kirk.' Such was the last prayer of a great man without whom there would have been no America, no Puritans, no Pilgrims, no Scottish covenanters, no Presbyterians, no Patrick Henry, no Samuel Adams, no George Washington. Could it have been so simple? John Knox's agenda was far from political. All he wanted were more pastors and elders. This is our agenda. Lord grant true pastors to Thy church! ~ Kevin Swanson

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

Patrick Henry said 'give me liberty or give me death.' I think his famous quote makes it crystal clear that the Constitutional framework of this country values liberty as an essential element of life, worth dying for. If something is worth such a sacrifice, how can the loss of it be justified for the argument that it will make us safer to give up our liberty and our civil rights? Are we to tell the mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers of all the soldiers lost in foreign wars that it was all a big lie? That they died for nothing? ~ Kenneth Eade

This house protected by an armed citizen. There is absolutely nothing here worth dying for. ~ Patrick Henry

Bad men cannot make good citizens. It is when a people forget God that tyrants forge their chains. A vitiated state of morals, a corrupted public conscience, is incompatible with freedom. No free government, or the blessings of liberty, can be preserved to any people but by a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality, and virtue; and by a frequent recurrence to fundamental principles. ~ Patrick Henry

Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot? ~ Patrick Henry

The evolution of national unity and equal rights is all about what America represents as a nation today: a manifestation of the historical episodes of Jefferson and Henry as well as the Civil War, the Women's Suffrage movement, and the Civil Rights struggles. ~ Patrick Mendis

The great object is that every man be armed. Everyone who is able may have a gun. ~ Patrick Henry

The people have a right to keep and bear arms. ~ Patrick Henry

Is it not amazing that at a time when the rights of humanity are defined and understood with precision, in a country, above all others, fond of liberty-that in such an age and in such a country we find men professing a religion the most humane, mild, gentle and generous, adopting a principle as repugnant to humanity as it is inconsistent with the Bible, and destructive to liberty? ~ Patrick Henry

There is a just God, who presides over the destinies the nation, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone, it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. If we were base enough to desire it, there is no retreat but in submission and slavery. Our chains our forged. There clanking can be heard from Boston. Besides, sir, we have no election. ~ Patrick Henry

Even in Madison's day, the practice of gerrymandering for partisan advantage was familiar. In the late seventeen-eighties, there were claims that Patrick Henry had tried to gerrymander Madison himself out of the First Congress. The term was coined during Madison's Presidency, to mock Elbridge Gerry, the governor of Massachusetts, who in 1811 approved an election district that was said to look like a salamander. ~ Jeffrey Toobin

Have we the means of resisting disciplined armies, when our only defense, the militia, is put in the hands of Congress? Of what service would militia be to you when, most probably, you will not have a single musket in the state? For, as arms are to be provided by Congress, they may or may not provide them. ~ Patrick Henry

When I was seven years old, I fell in love with a series published by Bobbs-Merrill called 'The Childhood of Famous Americans.' In it, historical figures like Clara Barton, Nancy Hanks, Elias Howe, Patrick Henry, and dozens more came to life for me as children. ~ Ann Hood

(Patrick Henry) He understood that the home was the foundation of a stable society and that the authority a man "exercised within the larger society was rooted in the authority exercised at home." Thus ... the training ground for all sound leadership is the family. ~ David J. Vaughan

Perfect freedom is as necessary to the health and vigor of commerce as it is to the health and vigor of citizenship. ~ Patrick Henry

If we wish to be free; if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending; if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained - we must fight! I repeat it, sir, we must fight! An appeal to arms, and to the God of hosts, is all that is left us. ~ Patrick Henry

I look on that paper (the Constitution) as the most fatal plan that could possibly be conceived to enslave a free people. ~ Patrick Henry

If our government servants had to comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act as they have forced all of American business to do, they would be in jail. ~ Patrick Henry

My most cherished possession I wish I could leave you is my faith in Jesus Christ, for with Him and nothing else you can be happy, but without Him and with all else you'll never be happy. ~ Patrick Henry

Give me liberty or give me death.' A human named Patrick Henry said that. I wonder if the Yeerks knew before they came to conquer Earth that humans said things like that. I wonder if the Yeerks knew what they were getting into. -Aximili Esgarrouth Isthill ~ Katherine Applegate

What right do they have to say "we the people" rather than we the States? ~ Patrick Henry

The white man made the mistake of letting me read his history books. He made the mistake of teaching me that Patrick Henry was a patriot and George Washington - wasn't nothing non-violent about old Pat or George Washington. ~ Malcolm X

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. ~ Patrick Henry

Indeed, several leading figures of the founding period, such as Patrick Henry, John Marshall, and Thomas Jefferson, proposed intermarriage between whites and Indians as a way to integrate the natives into the American mainstream. "What they thought impossible with respect to blacks," political scientist Ralph Lerner writes, "was seen as highly desirable with respect to Indians."19 ~ Dinesh D'Souza

The liberties of a people never were, nor ever will be, secure when the transactions of their rulers may be concealed from them. ~ Patrick Henry

The Constitution is said to have beautiful features; but when I come to examine these features, Sir, they appear to me horribly frightful. Among other deformities, it has an awful squinting - it squints towards monarchy. And does not this raise indignation in the breast of every true American? Your president may easily become king ... Where are your checks in this government? ... I would rather infinitely - and I am sure most of this convention are of the same opinion - have a king, lords, and commons than a government so replete with such insupportable evils. ~ Patrick Henry

Beside, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. ~ Patrick Henry

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

Besides, 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. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave."
Patrick Henry, St. John's Church, Richmond, VA, 1775 ~ Patrick Henry, American Patriot

The American Revolution was the grand operation, which seemed to be assigned by the Deity to the men of this age in our country, over and above the common duties of life ~ 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

Bad men cannot make good citizens. ~ Patrick Henry

Power is the great evil with which we are contending. We have divided power between three branches of government and erected checks and balances to prevent abuse of power. However, where is the check on the power of the judiciary? If we fail to check the power of the judiciary, I predict that we will eventually live under judicial tyranny. ~ Patrick Henry

I know some say, let us have good laws, and no matter for the men that execute them: but let them consider, that though good laws do well, good men do better: for good laws may want good men, and be abolished or evaded [invaded in Franklin's print] by ill men; but good men will never want good laws, nor suffer ill ones. ~ Patrick Henry

He that hath a blind conscience which sees nothing, a dead conscience which feels nothing, and a dumb conscience which says nothing, is in as miserable a condition as a man can be on this side of hell. ~ 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

Quite naturally, the men who led in stirring up the revolt against Great Britain and in keeping the fighting temper of the Revolutionists at the proper heat were the boldest and most radical thinkers - men like Samuel Adams, Thomas Paine, Patrick Henry, and Thomas Jefferson. ~ Charles A. Beard

The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way -- everywhere in the world. The third is freedom from want, which, translated into world terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants -- everywhere in the world. The fourth is freedom from fear, which, translated into world terms, means a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor -- anywhere in the world. ~ Patrick Henry

If you have given up your militia, and Congress shall refuse to arm them, you have lost every thing. Your existence will be precarious, because you depend on others, whose interests are not affected by your infelicity. ~ Patrick Henry

My great objection to this government is, that it does not leave us the means of defending our rights, or of waging war against tyrants. ~ Patrick Henry

I am sure that the dangers of this system (the Federal Constitution) are real, when those who have no similar interest with the people of this country (the South) are to legislate for us - when our dearest rights are to be left, in the hands of those, whose advantage it will be to infringe them. ~ Patrick Henry

I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past. ~ Patrick Henry

Just remember the words of Patrick Henry - 'Kill me or let me live.' ~ Bill Peterson

Faith has played a major role in my life. Whenever I feel an obstacle is too great, I can always go to God in prayer and He'll help me through it. ~ Patrick Henry Hughes

It is when a people forget God that tyrants forge their chains. ~ 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

Suppose for a moment that God began taking from us the many things for which we have failed to give thanks. Which of our limbs and faculties would be left? Would I still have my hands and my mind? And what about loved ones? If God were to take from me all those persons and things for which I have not given thanks, who or what would be left of me? ~ Patrick Henry Reardon

The Bible is worth all the other books which have ever been printed. ~ Patrick Henry

There are days where maybe the obstacle is too great, maybe I don't want to get up and go to classes or attend that marching band practice, but whenever I have those days, I just realize that I have to get it done and everything will turn out great in the end. ~ Patrick Henry Hughes

The distinctions between Virginians, Pennsylvanians, New Yorkers, and New Englanders are no more. I Am Not A Virginian, But An American! ~ Patrick Henry

I shall act as I think my duty requires. ~ Patrick Henry

The mission of Patrick Henry College was to attract and cultivate academic stars from the ranks of home-schooled evangelicals, then send them off on graduation day to 'shape the culture and take back the nation,' in the words of a common home-schooling rallying cry. ~ Nina Easton

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

When I enter a library, when I enter the world of books, I feel the ghosts of the past on my shoulders urging me to speech. I hear Patrick Henry cry to the Burgsses, 'Is Life so dear, or Peace so sweet, to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?' I hear Sojourner Truth tell me that the hand that rocks the cradle can also rock the boat, and William Lloyd Garrison say, 'I am in earnest, I will not be silenced.' ~ Sara Paretsky

First, the Constitution ought to secure a genuine and guard against a select militia, by providing that the militia shall always be kept well organized, armed, and disciplined, and include, according to the past and general usage of the states, all men capable of bearing arms; and that all regulations tending to render this general militia useless and defenseless, by establishing select corps of militia, or distinct bodies of military men, not having permanent interests and attachments in the community to be avoided. ~ Patrick Henry

Suffer not yourselves to be betrayed with a kiss. Ask yourselves how this gracious reception of our petition comports with those warlike preparations which cover our waters and darken our land. Are fleets and armies necessary to a work of love and reconciliation? Have we shown ourselves so unwilling to be reconciled, that force must be called in to win back our love? Let us not deceive ourselves, sir. These are the implements of war and subjugationthe last arguments to which kings resort. ~ Patrick Henry

Suspicion is a virtue as long its object is the preservation of public good ~ Patrick Henry

We should not forget that the spark which ignited the American Revolution was caused by the British attempt to confiscate the firearms of the colonists. ~ Patrick Henry

Suspicion is a virtue as long as its object is the public good, and as long as it stays within proper bounds ... Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect every one who approaches that jewel. ~ Patrick Henry

THERE IS A JUST GOOD WHO PRESIDES OVER DESTINIES OF NATIONS AND WHO WILL RAISE UP FRIENDS TO FIGHT OUR VALUES FOR US. THE BATTLE SIR, IS NOT TO THE STRONG ALONE, IT IS TO THE VIGILANT, THE ACTIVE, THE BRAVE. IF WE WERE BASE ENOUGH TO DESIRE IT, THERE IS NO RETREAT BUT IN SUBMISSION AND SLAVERY. BESIDES SIR WE HAD NO ELECTION. ~ Patrick Henry

Suspicion is a Virtue, if in the interests of the good of the people. ~ Patrick Henry

(45) We will appoint as justices, constables, sheriffs, or other officials, only men that know the law of the realm and are minded to keep it well. ~ Patrick Henry

Liberty, the greatest of all earthly blessings - give us that precious jewel and you may take everything else! ~ Patrick Henry

Fear is the passion of slaves. ~ Patrick Henry

Should I keep back my opinions at such a time, through fear of giving offense, I should consider myself as guilty of treason toward my country, and of an act of disloyalty toward the Majesty of Heaven, which I revere above all earthly kings. ~ Patrick Henry

My political curiosity, exclusive of my anxious solicitude for the public welfare, leads me to ask who authorized them (the framers of the Constitution) to speak the language of 'We, the People,' instead of 'We, the States'? ~ Patrick Henry

Give me liberty, or give me death! While we're at it, I would also like a fourth Pirates of the Caribbean movie. ~ Patrick Henry

Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? ~ Patrick Henry

Will the adoption of this new plan pay our debts! This, Sir, is a plain question. It is inferred, that our grievances are to be redressed, and the evils of the existing system to be removed by the new Constitution. Let me inform the Honorable Gentleman, that no nation ever paid its debts by a change of Government, without the aid of in- dustry. You never will pay your debts but by a radical change of domestic economy ... The evils that attend us, lie in extravagance and want of industry and can only be removed by assiduity and economy. ~ Patrick Henry

The head monkey at Paris puts on a traveller's cap, and all the monkeys in America do the same. ~ Henry David Thoreau

Clearly security without values is like a ship without a rudder. But values without security are like a rudder without a ship. ~ Henry A. Kissinger

But the nearer the dawn the darker the night, And by going wrong all things come right. Things have been mended that were worse, and the the worse, the nearer they are to mend. ~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Imagine someone is fast asleep in a very dark room. The friend who opens the curtains to let the light in will be cursed and hated. But the day had long since started, and the friend still sleeping curses the light, and prefers the darkness. In the same way, those who bring light to a dark situation will be cursed and ridiculed for their optimism and love. They will be scorned and rejected for their joy and hope. But optimism, love, hope, and joy should be pursued anyway. In all things, you must trust in the knowing your brain will never know, the feeling your heart can never reveal, and the Spirit your own soul still hasn't even begun to explore. This is the profound gift of a firm grasp on faith. ~ Sean Patrick Brennan

Henry?' JJ asks.
'Asleep in my bed.'
'What?' Ty exclaims. ~ Miranda Kenneally

When I read a novel my imagination starts off at a gallop and leaves the narrator hidden in a cloud of dust; I have to come jogging twenty miles back to the denouement. ~ Henry James

The end of something, that specific mid-century American upper-middle-class WASP East Coast thing, the mercantile remnant of the Puritans, the ruling class tossed up by the Civil War and westward expansion, a whole litany of crimes now lost within the comforts of civilization, harmless as a lullaby... I felt nothing but regret. I do not suffer loss well... Their dark and unfortunate masterpiece, the Vietnam War...dislodged, then replaced...powerful now only in the heads of their children, the children of Little America... When we die, they'll vanish forever. ~ Henry Bromell

When I hear a grown man or woman say, "Once I had faith in men, now I have not," I am inclined to ask, "Who are you whom the world has disappointed? Have not you rather disappointed the world?" ~ Henry David Thoreau

Sometimes in life you really have to start taking care of yourself even if it means hanging around only those people that really cares about you". ~ Abdulazeez Henry Musa

Statistics are no substitue for judgement. ~ Henry Clay

Believe me; there's nothing clean, nothing healthy, nothing promising about this age of wonders - except the telling. ~ Henry Miller

Between 2001 and 2011, Brazil lifted 20 million people out of poverty and into its growing middle class, and in the last quarter of the twentieth century Botswana's gross domestic product per capita grew faster than that of any other country on the planet. The once-labeled 'Third World' is edging its way into the 'First World.' ~ Peter Blair Henry

I'm not trying to say I'm a big tough guy, I'm a typical American waist deep in this violent culture. ~ Henry Rollins

You know, Henry, we're the only people who get born into the enemy camp. I mean, black babies get born into black families, Jewish babies get born into Jewish families, but gay babies, we get born into straight families. How we survive it all is a miracle. ~ Michael Nava

Out in the field, any connection with home just makes you weaker. It reminds you that you were once civilized, soft; and that can get you killed faster than a bullet through the head. ~ Henry Mosquera

To-day we have naming of parts. Yesterday We had daily cleaning. And tomorrow morning, We shall have what to do after firing. But to-day, To-day we have naming of parts. ~ Henry Reed

There are as many strata at different levels of life as there are leaves in a book. When on the higher levels we can remember the lower levels, but when on the lower we cannot remember the higher. ~ Henry David Thoreau

A great mind will neither give an affront nor bear it. ~ Henry Home, Lord Kames

As flowers carry dewdrops, trembling on the edges of the petals, and ready to fall at the first waft of wind or brush of bird, so the heart should carry its beaded words of thanksgiving; and at the first breath of heavenly flavor, let down the shower, perfumed with the heart's gratitude. ~ Henry Ward Beecher

The very mudsills of society. We call them slaves. But I will not characterize that class at the North with that term; but you have it. It is there, it is everywhere, it is eternal. ~ James Henry Hammond