Patrick Henry

“Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel.”

“Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God!”

“The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government.”

“Caesar had his Brutus; Charles the First, his Cromwell; and George the Third may profit by their example.”

“I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience.”

“I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!”

“If this be treason, make the most of it.”

“The liberties of a people never were, nor ever will be, secure, when the transactions of their rulers may be concealed from them.”

“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.”

“Bad men cannot make good citizens.”

“Are we disposed to be of the number of those who, having eyes, see not, and having ears, hear not, the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation?”

“Give me liberty, or give me death!”

“The distinctions between Virginians, Pennsylvanians, New Yorkers, and New Englanders are no more. I am not a Virginian, but an American.”

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

“We are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of Nature has placed in our power.”