C.N. Douglas, comp. Forty Thousand Quotations: Prose and Poetical. 1917.
Patrick Henry
Cæsar 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.
Give me liberty, or give me death.
He that hath a blind conscience which sees nothing, a dead conscience which feels nothing, and a dumb conscience which says nothing, is in as miserable a condition as a man can be on this side of hell.
I am not a Virginian, but an American.
I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience.
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. If they had that, and I had not given them one shilling, they would have been rich; and if they had not that, and I had given them all the world, they would be poor.
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!
Implements of war and subjugation are the last arguments to which kings resort.
Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty Powers!—I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!
Tarquin and Cæsar had each his Brutus—Charles the First his Cromwell—and George the Third—(“Treason!” shouted the speaker)—may profit by their example. If this be treason, make the most of it.