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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

More quotes by Patrick Henry

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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.
Patrick Henry
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It is when a people forget God, that tyrants forge their chains.
Patrick Henry
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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.
Patrick Henry
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Were my soul trembling on the wing of eternity, were this hand freezing to death, were my voice choking with the last struggle, I would still, with the last gasp of that voice, implore you to remember the truth: God has given America to be free.
Patrick Henry
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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.
Patrick Henry
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I believe a time will come when an opportunity will be offered to abolish this lamentable evil.
Patrick Henry
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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.
Patrick Henry
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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.
Patrick Henry
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I know of no way of judging the future but by the past.
Patrick Henry
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I believe a time will come when an opportunity will be offered to abolish this lamentable evil. Everything we do is to improve it, if it happens in our day if not, let us transmit to our descendants, together with our slaves, a pity for their unhappy lot and an abhorrence of slavery.
Patrick Henry
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The King has degenerated into a tyrant and forfeits all rights to his subjects' obedience.
Patrick Henry
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It is the business of a virtuous clergyman to censure vice in every appearance of it.
Patrick Henry
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The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave.
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!
Patrick Henry
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Fear is the passion of slaves.
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
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This house protected by an armed citizen. There is absolutely nothing here worth dying for.
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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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.
Patrick Henry
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I shall act as I think my duty requires.
Patrick Henry