Quotes from Patrick Henry

Human nature will never part with power. Look for an example of a voluntary relinquishment of power from one end of the globe to another - you will find none.

I am not a Virginian but an American.

Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace! – but there is no peace.

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

We are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of Nature has placed in our power... the battle, sir, is not to the strong alone it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave.

There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us.

Oh, how wretched should I be at this moment, if I had not made my peace with God.

Liberty ought to be the direct end of your government.

The great object is that every man be armed.

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.

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?

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.

The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave.

I know not what others may choose but, as for me, give me liberty or give me death.

Are we at last brought to such humiliating and debasing degradation, that we cannot be trusted with arms for our defense?

Hospitality invites to prayer before it checks credentials, welcomes to the table before administering the entrance exam.

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.

The great pillars of all government and of social life [are] virtue, morality, and religion. This is the armor, my friend, and this alone, that renders us invincible.

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.

I have had many anxieties for our commonwealth, principally occasioned by the depreciation of our money.

We have not yet begun to fight.

Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction?

Would any one believe that I am master of slaves by my own purchase? I am drawn along by the general inconvenience of living without them.

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