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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

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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
Within
Proper
Approaches
Attention
Bounds
Jewels
Every
Object
Stays
Long
Approach
Suspect
Good
Objects
Suspects
Virtue
Guard
Liberty
Suspicion
Public
Jealous
Jewel

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We should transmit to posterity our abhorrence of slavery.
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The King has degenerated into a tyrant and forfeits all rights to his subjects' obedience.
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What right do they have to say we the people rather than we the States?
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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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Fear is the passion of slaves.
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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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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.
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Have we the means of resisting disciplined armies, when our only defence, the militia, is put in the hands of Congress?
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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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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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I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience.
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They tell us, sir, that we are weak unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house?
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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.
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I know not what others may choose but, as for me, give me liberty or give me death.
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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?
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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 provide for it.
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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.
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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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The whole economy of this lower world proves that it is by labor and perseverance only that good is obtained and evil is avoided.
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The Bible is worth all the other books which have ever been printed.
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