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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?

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
Mean
Feet
Hug
Shall
Foot
Enemy
Bound
Delusive
Hand
Acquire
Hugging
Lying
Resistance
Effectual
Hope
Enemies
Phantom
Means
Bounds
Phantoms
Hands
Revolution
Backs

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Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace! – but there is no peace.
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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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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.
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I am not a Virginian, I am an American.
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We have not yet begun to fight.
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The Bible is worth all the other books which have ever been printed.
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When the American spirit was in its youth, the language of America was different: Liberty, sir, was the primary object.
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It is the business of a virtuous clergyman to censure vice in every appearance of it.
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The great object is that every man be armed.
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The King has degenerated into a tyrant and forfeits all rights to his subjects' obedience.
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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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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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Bad men cannot make good citizens. A vitiated state of morals, a corrupted public conscience are incompatible with freedom.
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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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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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The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave.
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It is when a people forget God, that tyrants forge their chains.
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[Our Constitution] is an instrument for the people to restrain the government.
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This house protected by an armed citizen. There is absolutely nothing here worth dying for.
Patrick Henry