Patrick Henry

"Give me liberty, or give me death!"

"I am not a Virginian, but an American."

"The great object of my life is to be useful."

"Bad men cannot make good citizens."

"It is when a people forget God that tyrants forge their chains."

"Guard with jealous attention the public liberty."

"I have always considered the religion of Jesus Christ to be sublime."

"Three millions of people so dead to all sense of liberty as calmly and meekly to submit to slavery."

"They tell us that we are weak; unable to cope with so formidable an adversary."

"Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are our God-given rights."

"If this be treason, make the most of it."

"The distinctions between Virginians, Pennsylvanians, New Yorkers, and New Englanders are no more."

"We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth."

"Suspicion is a virtue as long as its object is the proper one."

"No nation ever taxed itself into prosperity."

"The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people."

"I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death."

"Timidity is the parent of cruelty."

"It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded not by religionists but by Christians."

"The dearest interests of liberty are at stake."

"Let us trust God; let us trust our cause and our ability to defend it."

"Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty."

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

"Are we at last brought to such humiliating and debasing degradation that we cannot be trusted with arms for our defense?"

"The great object of public instruction is to be the formation of patriots."

"Providence has been pleased to guide us so far."

"We should be free from fear."

"The Bible is worth all the other books which have ever been printed."

"Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction?"

"There is no argument, whatever, in favor of yielding the point."