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

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
Make
Citizens
Good
Public
Men
Moral
State
Freedom
Incompatible
President
Corrupted
Cannot
Morals
States
Conscience

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The eternal difference between right and wrong does not fluctuate, it is immutable.
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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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. . . 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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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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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.
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What right do they have to say we the people rather than we the States?
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I shall act as I think my duty requires.
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I am not a Virginian, I am an American.
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....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.
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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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[Our Constitution] is an instrument for the people to restrain the government.
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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.
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We should transmit to posterity our abhorrence of slavery.
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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 Bible is worth all the other books which have ever been printed.
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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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The King has degenerated into a tyrant and forfeits all rights to his subjects' obedience.
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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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I believe a time will come when an opportunity will be offered to abolish this lamentable evil.
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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