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Human nature will never part with power. Look for an example of a voluntary relinquishment of power from one end of the globe to another - you will find none.

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
Look
None
Human
Example
Humans
Another
Looks
Nature
Never
Ends
Part
Voluntary
Power
Globe
Find
Globes

More quotes by 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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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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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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We should transmit to posterity our abhorrence of slavery.
Patrick Henry
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I am not a Virginian, I am an American.
Patrick Henry
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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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Jealousy is the only vice that gives no pleasure
Patrick Henry
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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?
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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We have not yet begun to fight.
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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Righteousness alone can exalt them [America] as a nation. Reader! Whoever thou art, remember this, and in thy sphere practice virtue thyself and encourage it in others.
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 shall act as I think my duty requires.
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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Away with your president! We shall have a king... the army will salute him as monarch your militia will leave you and assist in making him king and fight against you. And what have you to oppose this force? What will then become of you and your rights?
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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[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