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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, till she transforms us into beasts.

Patrick Henry

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Patrick Henry
Age: 63 †
Born: 1736
Born: May 29
Died: 1799
Died: June 6
Governor Of Virginia
Lawyer
Politician
Slaveholder
Hanover County
Virginia
Henry
Eyes
Transforms
Eye
Beasts
Hope
Indulge
Natural
Beast
Truth
Shut
Men
Till
Painful
Illusion

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Being a Christian... is a character which I prize far above all this world has or can boast.
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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!
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Adversity toughens manhood, and the characteristic of the good or the great man is not that he has been exempt from the evils of life, but that he has surmounted them.
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The great object is that every man be armed.
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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.
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This house protected by an armed citizen. There is absolutely nothing here worth dying for.
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Bad men cannot make good citizens. A vitiated state of morals, a corrupted public conscience are incompatible with freedom.
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. . . Virtue, morality, and religion. This is the armor, my friend, and this alone that renders us invincible. These are the tactics we should study. If we lose these, we are conquered, fallen indeed . . . so long as our manners and principles remain sound, there is no danger.
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The question before the House is one of awful moment to this country. For my own part, I consider it as nothing less than a question of freedom or slavery
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The King has degenerated into a tyrant and forfeits all rights to his subjects' obedience.
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Jealousy is the only vice that gives no pleasure
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I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience.
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Give me liberty or give me death.
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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.
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I know of no way of judging the future but by the past.
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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?
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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.
Patrick Henry
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[Our Constitution] is an instrument for the people to restrain the government.
Patrick Henry
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O sir, we should have fine times, indeed, if, to punish tyrants, it were only sufficient to assemble the people! Your arms, wherewith you could defend yourselves, are gone.
Patrick Henry
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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