Famous Quotes,
Proverbs, & Sayings

Patrick Henry

Popular Topics:

People | Life | Time | Man | Love | Work | Music | Mind | Women | Money | War | Truth | Power | Art | Government | Nature | Business | History | Family | Age | Society | Success

Popular Authors:

Anthony Robbins | Tennessee Williams | Steve Jobs | Ramakrishna | Henry Fielding | Albert Schweitzer | Carl Sandburg | Stephen Hawking | Karl Kraus | Walt Disney | Arthur C. Clarke

Popular Occupations:

Actors | Politicians | Philosophers | Musicians | Comedians | Scientists | Artists | Lawyers

Patrick Henry

Born: May 29, 1736

Died: June 6, 1799

Nationality: American

Occupation: Politician

Biography: Patrick Henry was an attorney, planter and politician who became known as an orator during the movement for independence in Virginia in the 1770s. A Founding Father, he served as the first and sixth post-colonial Governor of Virginia, from 1776 to 1779 and from 1784 to 1786.

Previous | Next

Patrick Henry

“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

View as Image Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Pintrest Share on Tumblr

Patrick Henry

“When the American spirit was in its youth, the language of America was different: Liberty, sir, was the primary object.”

- Patrick Henry

View as Image Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Pintrest Share on Tumblr

Patrick Henry

“Caesar had his Brutus, Charles the First his Cromwell; and George the Third — — may profit by their example. If this be treason, make the most of it.”

- Patrick Henry

Source/Notes: Speech on the Stamp Act, Virginia House of Burgesses (29 May 1765).

View as Image Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Pintrest Share on Tumblr

Patrick Henry

“I am not a Virginian, but an American.”

- Patrick Henry

View as Image Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Pintrest Share on Tumblr

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

Source/Notes: Speech on the Federal Constitution, Virginia Ratifying Convention (1788-06-05)

View as Image Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Pintrest Share on Tumblr

Patrick Henry

“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?”

- Patrick Henry

Source/Notes: Speech on the Federal Constitution, Virginia Ratifying Convention (1788-06-05).

View as Image Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Pintrest Share on Tumblr

Patrick Henry

“This is all the inheritance I can give to my dear family. The religion of Christ can give them one which will make them rich indeed.”

- Patrick Henry

View as Image Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Pintrest Share on Tumblr

Patrick Henry

“I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience. I know no way of judging of the future but by the past.”

- Patrick Henry

Source/Notes: Compare: You can never plan the future by the past, Edmund Burke, Letter to a Member of the National Assembly, Vol. iv. p. 55. - Give me liberty or give me death! (1775)

View as Image Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Pintrest Share on Tumblr

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

View as Image Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Pintrest Share on Tumblr

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 conscience; and that it is the mutual duty of all to practice Christian forbearance, love, and charity towards each other.”

- Patrick Henry

Source/Notes: Virginia Bill of Rights article 16 (1776)

View as Image Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Pintrest Share on Tumblr

Patrick Henry

“It is natural to man to indulge in the illusion of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren, till she transforms us into beasts.”

- Patrick Henry

View as Image Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Pintrest Share on Tumblr

Patrick Henry

“I like dreams of the future better than the history of the past.”

- Patrick Henry

View as Image Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Pintrest Share on Tumblr

Patrick Henry

“There is no longer any room for hope. If we wish to be free — if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending — if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon, until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained — we must fight!I repeat it, sir, we must fight!! An appeal to arms and to the God of Hosts, is all that is left us!”

- Patrick Henry

View as Image Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Pintrest Share on Tumblr

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 subjugation — the last arguments to which kings resort.”

- Patrick Henry

View as Image Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Pintrest Share on Tumblr

Previous | Next