S.A. Bent, comp. Familiar Short Sayings of Great Men. 1887.

Nathan Hale

[An American patriot; born in Connecticut, 1755; graduated from Yale College; entered the army, 1775; sent by Washington to penetrate the enemy’s lines in Long Island, and procure intelligence, September, 1776; was seized and executed as a spy.]

I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.

His last words.

“What pity is it

That we can die but once to save our country!”

ADDISON: Cato, IV. 4.

Napoleon said, “Can a few days of life equal the happiness of dying for one’s country?”

The last words of Major John André of the British army, who was hanged as a spy, Oct. 2, 1780, for having attempted to conduct secret negotiations with Benedict Arnold for the surrender of West Point, were, when asked on the scaffold if he had any thing to say: “Nothing but to request you to witness to the world that I die like a brave man.”

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