Henry Patrick Quotes & Sayings

The first thing I have at heart is American liberty; the second thing is American union. — Patrick Henry

Be of good courage, my son, and remember that the best men always make themselves. — Patrick Henry

The distinctions between Virginians, Pennsylvanians, New Yorkers, and New Englanders are no more. I Am Not A Virginian, But An American! — Patrick Henry

(Patrick Henry) He understood that the home was the foundation of a stable society and that the authority a man "exercised within the larger society was rooted in the authority exercised at home." Thus ... the training ground for all sound leadership is the family. — David J. Vaughan

Patrick Henry aligned himself against ratification. So did Richard Henry Lee. — Douglas Southall Freeman

The battle is not to the strong alone. It is to the vigilant, the active, and the brave. A small, disciplined militia can not only hold out against a larger force, but drive it back, because what they're fighting for rightfully belongs to them. — Patrick Henry

If our government servants had to comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act as they have forced all of American business to do, they would be in jail. — Patrick Henry

Liberty, the greatest of all earthly blessings - give us that precious jewel and you may take everything else! — Patrick Henry

I have the highest veneration of those Gentleman,
but, Sir, give me leave to demand, what right had they to say, We, the People? My political curiosity, exclusive of my anxious solicitude for the public welfare, leads me to ask who authorized them to speak the language of, We, the People, instead of We, the States? States are the characteristics, and the soul of the confederation. If the States be not the agents of this compact, it must be one of great consolidated National Government of the people of all the States. — Patrick Henry

The question before the House is one of awful moment to this country. For my own part, I consider it as nothing less than a question of freedom or slavery — Patrick Henry

Quite naturally, the men who led in stirring up the revolt against Great Britain and in keeping the fighting temper of the Revolutionists at the proper heat were the boldest and most radical thinkers - men like Samuel Adams, Thomas Paine, Patrick Henry, and Thomas Jefferson. — Charles A. Beard

The mission of Patrick Henry College was to attract and cultivate academic stars from the ranks of home-schooled evangelicals, then send them off on graduation day to 'shape the culture and take back the nation,' in the words of a common home-schooling rallying cry. — Nina Easton

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. — Patrick Henry

When I was seven years old, I fell in love with a series published by Bobbs-Merrill called 'The Childhood of Famous Americans.' In it, historical figures like Clara Barton, Nancy Hanks, Elias Howe, Patrick Henry, and dozens more came to life for me as children. — Ann Hood

Indeed, several leading figures of the founding period, such as Patrick Henry, John Marshall, and Thomas Jefferson, proposed intermarriage between whites and Indians as a way to integrate the natives into the American mainstream. "What they thought impossible with respect to blacks," political scientist Ralph Lerner writes, "was seen as highly desirable with respect to Indians."19 — Dinesh D'Souza

My political curiosity, exclusive of my anxious solicitude for the public welfare, leads me to ask who authorized them (the framers of the Constitution) to speak the language of 'We, the People,' instead of 'We, the States'? — Patrick Henry

The Bible is worth all the other books which have ever been printed. — Patrick Henry

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

That religion, or the duty which we owe to our Creator, and the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence; and therefore all men are equally entitled to the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of the conscience; and it is the mutual duty of all to practice Christian forbearance, love, and charity towards each other. — Patrick Henry

When I enter a library, when I enter the world of books, I feel the ghosts of the past on my shoulders urging me to speech. I hear Patrick Henry cry to the Burgsses, 'Is Life so dear, or Peace so sweet, to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?' I hear Sojourner Truth tell me that the hand that rocks the cradle can also rock the boat, and William Lloyd Garrison say, 'I am in earnest, I will not be silenced.' — Sara Paretsky

The evolution of national unity and equal rights is all about what America represents as a nation today: a manifestation of the historical episodes of Jefferson and Henry as well as the Civil War, the Women's Suffrage movement, and the Civil Rights struggles. — Patrick Mendis

A revolution was never fought, throughout history, for ideals. Revolutions were fought for much more concrete things: food, clothes, housing, and to relieve intolerable oppression. ... I know of no one, outside of Patrick Henry, willing to die for an abstraction. — William Powell

Power is the great evil with which we are contending. We have divided power between three branches of government and erected checks and balances to prevent abuse of power. However, where is the check on the power of the judiciary? If we fail to check the power of the judiciary, I predict that we will eventually live under judicial tyranny. — Patrick Henry

Suspicion is a Virtue, if in the interests of the good of the people. — Patrick Henry

Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? — Patrick Henry

Being a Christian ... is a character which I prize far above all this world has or can boast. — Patrick Henry

I know some say, let us have good laws, and no matter for the men that execute them: but let them consider, that though good laws do well, good men do better: for good laws may want good men, and be abolished or evaded [invaded in Franklin's print] by ill men; but good men will never want good laws, nor suffer ill ones. — Patrick Henry

I know of no way of judging the future but by the past. — Patrick Henry

The people have a right to keep and bear arms. — Patrick Henry

Are we at last brought to such a humiliating and debasing degradation, that we cannot be trusted with arms for our own defense? — Patrick Henry

Give me liberty or give me gout?! Ok, who's been messing with this? — Patrick Henry

The militia is our ultimate safety. We can have no security without it. The great object is that every man be armed. — Patrick Henry

There is a Book worth all other books which were ever printed. — Patrick Henry

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

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

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; and you have no longer an aristocratical, no longer a democratical spirit. Did you ever read of any revolution in a nation, brought about by the punishment of those in power, inflicted by those who had no power at all? — Patrick Henry

When the American Spirit was in its youth, the language of America was different; Liberty, sir, was then the primary object. — Patrick Henry

[Our Constitution] is an instrument for the people to restrain the government. — Patrick Henry

The eternal difference between right and wrong does not fluctuate, it is immutable. — Patrick Henry

Change will come, but only following a proper education of the children. — Patrick Henry Brady

We're going to face problems on a day to day basis and there's probably going to be that one obstacle that you think oh I'm not going to be able to get through it but just remember if you set your mind to achieve a goal, then you can do it. — Patrick Henry Hughes

Fear is the passion of slaves. — Patrick Henry

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

Today nearly every schoolchildren knows the town of Williamsburg. That that is the case is due not so much to the great history that happened here but to the vision of one man - William Archer Rutherfoord Goodwin. To be sure, Williamsburg, which served as capital of Virginia from 1699 to 1780, saw its share of notable events, most significantly the fiery rhetoric in the Virginia Capitol by Patrick Henry and brush-ups during the Revolutionary War and Civil War. But after the capital shuffled off to Richmond in 1780 the town led a mostly somnambulant existence for a century and a half. — Doug Gelbert

For the average civilized person to whom, as to Patrick Henry, even death is acceptable in the absence of liberty. — Federico Mangahas

Men of Virginia, countrymen of Washington, of Patrick Henry, of Jefferson, and of Madison, will ye be true to your constitutional faith? — Caleb Cushing

What right do they have to say "we the people" rather than we the States? — Patrick Henry

Faith has played a major role in my life. Whenever I feel an obstacle is too great, I can always go to God in prayer and He'll help me through it. — Patrick Henry Hughes

You ought to be extremely cautious, watchful, jealous of your liberty; for instead of securing your rights, you may lose them forever ... — Patrick Henry

(45) We will appoint as justices, constables, sheriffs, or other officials, only men that know the law of the realm and are minded to keep it well. — Patrick Henry

THERE IS A JUST GOOD WHO PRESIDES OVER DESTINIES OF NATIONS AND WHO WILL RAISE UP FRIENDS TO FIGHT OUR VALUES FOR US. THE BATTLE SIR, IS NOT TO THE STRONG ALONE, IT IS TO THE VIGILANT, THE ACTIVE, THE BRAVE. IF WE WERE BASE ENOUGH TO DESIRE IT, THERE IS NO RETREAT BUT IN SUBMISSION AND SLAVERY. BESIDES SIR WE HAD NO ELECTION. — Patrick Henry

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

United we stand, divided we fall. Let us not split into factions which must destroy that union upon which our existence hangs. — Patrick Henry

It is when a people forget God that tyrants forge their chains. — Patrick Henry

There is a just God, who presides over the destinies the nation, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone, it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. If we were base enough to desire it, there is no retreat but in submission and slavery. Our chains our forged. There clanking can be heard from Boston. Besides, sir, we have no election. — Patrick Henry

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

Jealousy is the only vice that gives no pleasure — Patrick Henry

We have not yet begun to fight. — Patrick Henry

Will the adoption of this new plan pay our debts! This, Sir, is a plain question. It is inferred, that our grievances are to be redressed, and the evils of the existing system to be removed by the new Constitution. Let me inform the Honorable Gentleman, that no nation ever paid its debts by a change of Government, without the aid of in- dustry. You never will pay your debts but by a radical change of domestic economy ... The evils that attend us, lie in extravagance and want of industry and can only be removed by assiduity and economy. — Patrick Henry

John Knox's dying words were, 'Lord, grant true pastors to Thy kirk.' Such was the last prayer of a great man without whom there would have been no America, no Puritans, no Pilgrims, no Scottish covenanters, no Presbyterians, no Patrick Henry, no Samuel Adams, no George Washington. Could it have been so simple? John Knox's agenda was far from political. All he wanted were more pastors and elders. This is our agenda. Lord grant true pastors to Thy church! — Kevin Swanson

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. — Patrick Henry

The whole economy of this lower world proves that it is by labor and perseverance only that good is obtained and evil is avoided. — Patrick Henry

The great object is that every man be armed. Everyone who is able may have a gun. — Patrick Henry

I shall act as I think my duty requires. — Patrick Henry

Patrick Henry said 'give me liberty or give me death.' I think his famous quote makes it crystal clear that the Constitutional framework of this country values liberty as an essential element of life, worth dying for. If something is worth such a sacrifice, how can the loss of it be justified for the argument that it will make us safer to give up our liberty and our civil rights? Are we to tell the mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers of all the soldiers lost in foreign wars that it was all a big lie? That they died for nothing? — Kenneth Eade

The Constitution is said to have beautiful features; but when I come to examine these features, Sir, they appear to me horribly frightful. Among other deformities, it has an awful squinting - it squints towards monarchy. And does not this raise indignation in the breast of every true American? Your president may easily become king ... Where are your checks in this government? ... I would rather infinitely - and I am sure most of this convention are of the same opinion - have a king, lords, and commons than a government so replete with such insupportable evils. — Patrick Henry

First, the Constitution ought to secure a genuine and guard against a select militia, by providing that the militia shall always be kept well organized, armed, and disciplined, and include, according to the past and general usage of the states, all men capable of bearing arms; and that all regulations tending to render this general militia useless and defenseless, by establishing select corps of militia, or distinct bodies of military men, not having permanent interests and attachments in the community to be avoided. — Patrick Henry

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

Are we at last brought to such humiliating and debasing degradation that we cannot be trusted with arms for our defense? Where is the difference between having our arms in possession and under our direction, and having them under the management of Congress? If our defense be the real object of having those arms, in whose hands can they be trusted with more propriety, or equal safety to us, as in our own hands? — Patrick Henry

There are days where maybe the obstacle is too great, maybe I don't want to get up and go to classes or attend that marching band practice, but whenever I have those days, I just realize that I have to get it done and everything will turn out great in the end. — Patrick Henry Hughes

For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst and to provide for it. — Patrick Henry

Death was Patrick Henry's second choice. — Wavy Gravy

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

I'm sick of all you ammo-phobes being intolerant of my gun. — Patrick Henry

A King, by disallowing Acts of this salutary nature, from being the father of his people, degenerated into a Tyrant and forfeits all rights to his subjects' obedience. — Patrick Henry

(Patrick) Henry rightly understood that the moral condition of the American people was a direct product of their religious faith, and that politics and morality were inevitably intertwined. Thus, the political structure ultimately rested on a religious foundation. The "great pillars of all government and of social life, "Henry once observed, are virtue, morality, and religion. — David J. Vaughan

I am not a Virginian, I am an American. — Patrick Henry

Whether this will prove a blessing or a curse, will depend upon the use our people will make of the blessings which a gracious God hath bestowed on us. If they are wise, they will be great and happy. If they are of a contrary character, they will be miserable. Righteousness alone can exalt them as a nation. Reader! Whoever thou art, remember this: and in thy sphere practice virtue thyself, an encourage it in others. — Patrick Henry

The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government - lest it come to dominate our lives and interests. — Patrick Henry

Early American speeches, from Washington's to Patrick Henry's, have been detheologized in history textbooks. No one has called it censorship. — James G. Watt

I see blindness more as an ability and sight more as a disability because there are some people with sight who tend to judge others by what they see on the outside but I don't see that. I don't see the skin color, the hair style or the clothing people wear; I only see that which is within a person. — Patrick Henry Hughes

God made me blind and unable to walk. Big deal! — Patrick Henry Hughes

Oh, how wretched should I be at this moment, if I had not made my peace with God. — Patrick Henry

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? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? 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? Sir, we are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature hath placed in our power. — Patrick Henry

My most cherished possession I wish I could leave you is my faith in Jesus Christ, for with Him and nothing else you can be happy, but without Him and with all else you'll never be happy. — Patrick Henry

Bad men cannot make good citizens. It is when a people forget God that tyrants forge their chains. A vitiated state of morals, a corrupted public conscience, is incompatible with freedom. No free government, or the blessings of liberty, can be preserved to any people but by a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality, and virtue; and by a frequent recurrence to fundamental principles. — Patrick Henry

It is the business of a virtuous clergy to censure vice in every appearance of it. — Patrick Henry

Patrick Henry did not say, 'Give me absolutely safety or give me death.' America is supposed to be about freedom. — John Stossel

I am not a Virginian, but an American. — Patrick Henry

Not disabilities at all - more Abilities. — Patrick Henry Hughes

You shouldn't say I can't until you've tried. — Patrick Henry Hughes

Perfect freedom is as necessary to the health and vigor of commerce as it is to the health and vigor of citizenship. — Patrick Henry

Suffer not yourselves to be betrayed with a kiss. Ask yourselves how this gracious reception of our petition comports with those warlike preparations which cover our waters and darken our land. Are fleets and armies necessary to a work of love and reconciliation? Have we shown ourselves so unwilling to be reconciled, that force must be called in to win back our love? Let us not deceive ourselves, sir. These are the implements of war and subjugationthe last arguments to which kings resort. — Patrick Henry

Sam wandered through the dark corridor, keeping a hand on the wall to maintain his balance. The stone floor was uneven, and he caught his toe on a couple of rocks that were sticking up in his path. He was about to give up and turn around when he heard something up ahead. He stopped in his tracks, thinking about Patrick Henry's ghost. He listened carefully and heard a man's voice coming from around the bend. — Steven K. Smith

If you have given up your militia, and Congress shall refuse to arm them, you have lost every thing. Your existence will be precarious, because you depend on others, whose interests are not affected by your infelicity. — Patrick Henry

The officers of Congress, may come upon you now, fortified with all the terrors of paramount federal authority. Excisemen taxmen may come in multitudes; for the limitation of their numbers no man knows. They may, unless the general government be restrained ... go into your cellars and rooms, and search, ransack, and measure, everything you eat, drink, and wear. — Patrick Henry

Suspicion is a virtue as long its object is the preservation of public good — Patrick Henry

The American Revolution was the grand operation, which seemed to be assigned by the Deity to the men of this age in our country, over and above the common duties of life — Patrick Henry

I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past. — Patrick Henry

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