21 Famous Quotes by Patrick Henry
5/29/1736 - 6/6/1799
Professions:
Information:
About Patrick Henry
Patrick Henry was an attorney, planter and politician who became known as an orator during the movement for independence in Virginia in the 1770s. A Founding Father, he served as the first and sixth post-colonial Governor of Virginia, from 1776 to 1779 and from 1784 to 1786.
Henry led the opposition to the Stamp Act of 1765 and is remembered for his "Give me Liberty, or give me Death!" speech. Along with Samuel Adams and Thomas Paine, he is regarded as one of the most influential champions of Republicanism and an invested promoter of the American Revolution and its fight for independence.
After the Revolution, Henry was a leader of the anti-federalists in Virginia. He opposed the United States Constitution, fearing that it endangered the rights of the States as well as the freedoms of individuals; he helped gain adoption of the Bill of Rights. By 1798 however, he supported President John Adams and the Federalists; he denounced passage of the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions as he feared the social unrest and widespread executions that had followed the increasing radicalism of the French Revolution.
As a married man, Henry was an expanding landowner. By 1779, along with his cousin and her husband, Henry owned a 10,000-acre plantation known by the name of Leatherwood. He is also recorded to have purchased up to 78 slaves. In 1794 he and his wife retired to Red Hill Plantation, which had 520-acre in Charlotte County that was also a functioning tobacco plantation.
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I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me
liberty, or give me death!
Patriotism
Quotes, by Patrick Henry , Source: in the Continental Congress
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Tarquin and Caesar had each his Brutus--Charles the First, his
Cromwell--and George the Third--("Treason!" shouted the Speaker)
may profit by their example. If this be treason, make the most
of it.
Treason
Quotes, by Patrick Henry , Source: Speech
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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.
Government
Quotes, by Patrick Henry
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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.
Constitution
Quotes, by Patrick Henry
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It is natural for 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... 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.
Illusion
Quotes, by Patrick Henry
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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.
Nations
Quotes, by Patrick Henry
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Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect
everyone who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will
preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that
force, you are inevitably ruined.
Liberty
Quotes, by Patrick Henry , Source: in a speech
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I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the
lamp of experience.
Experience
Quotes, by Patrick Henry , Source: in a speech at the Virginia Convention
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Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force: Whenever you give up that force, you are inevitably ruined.
Jewels
Quotes, by Patrick Henry
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It is natural to man to indulge in the illusion of hope. We are apt to
shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of the
siren, till she transforms us into beasts.
Inspirational
Quotes, by Patrick Henry
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Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are inevitably ruined.
Politics / government
Quotes, by Patrick Henry
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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!
Politics / government
Quotes, by Patrick Henry
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I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided; and that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way of judging the future but by the past.
Experience
Quotes, by Patrick Henry
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