Besides, sir, we have no election. If we were base enough t… - Patrick Henry

" "
Besides, sir, we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable—and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come.

Disputed attribution. This quote's attribution is contested.

Patrick Henry

Sources available for members. Sign up free to see where this quote comes from

English

Collect this quote

About Patrick Henry

Patrick Henry (29 May 1736 – 6 June 1799) was an American attorney, planter and politician who became known as an orator during the movement for independence in Virginia in the 1770s. A U.S. Founding Father, he served as the first and sixth post-colonial Governor of Virginia, from 1776 to 1779 and from 1784 to 1786. Henry led the opposition to the Stamp Act 1765 and is remembered for the "Give me liberty, or give me death!" speech attributed to him. Along with Samuel Adams and Thomas Paine, he is regarded as one of the most influential champions of Republicanism and an invested promoter of the American Revolution and its fight for independence.

Biography information from Wikiquote

Also Known As

Alternative Names: Henry

Full Quote All quotes from Patrick Henry Similar Quotes by other Originators

Originators like Patrick Henry:

Abraham Lincoln Thomas Jefferson George Washington John Adams Samuel Adams

Additional quotes by Patrick Henry

it is natural to man to indulge in the illusions 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.

(45) We will appoint as justices, constables, sheriffs, or other officials, only men that know the law of the realm and are minded to keep it well.

Are we at last brought to such an humiliating and debasing degradation, that we cannot be trusted with arms for our defense? Where is the difference between having our arms in possession and under our direction, and having them under the management of Congress? If our defense be the real object of having those arms, in whose hands can they be trusted with more propriety or equal safety to us, as in our own hands?

Besides, sir, we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in sub… - Patrick Henry

About Patrick Henry

Also Known As

Additional quotes by Patrick Henry