Quotes by Patrick Henry

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.

Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are ruined.

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.

. . . I repeat it, sir, we must fight! An appeal to arms and to the God of Hosts is all that is left us! . . . Sir, we are not weak, if we make a proper use of the means which the God of nature hath placed in our power. . . . Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations; and who will raise 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 . . . . . . Should I keep back my opinions at such a time, through fear of giving offense, I should consider myself as guilty of treason toward my country, and of an act of disloyalty toward the majesty of heaven, which I revere above all earthly kings.

I am not a Virginian, I am an American.

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. . . . Did you ever read of any revolution in a nation . . . inflicted by those who had no power at all?

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.

The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave.

Patrick Henry opposed the federal Constitution not only because it lacked a Bill of Rights in its unamended form, but also because it would establish a "consolidated government" rather than a confederation of states. It is proper to note George F. Willison's caution that "[s]peeches by Henry and others, as reported, were approximations of what was said. . . . The 'shorthand gentlemen' of the convention did not attempt a verbatim report of everything that was said. Rather, they reported the lines of argument, the special points that were made, but their notes did manage to convey something of the style of the various speakers, picking up and preserving many of their more graphic phrases." (George F. Willison, Patrick Henry and His World, 1969) "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."

The great object is that every man be armed.