Patrick Henry Quotes

I know that man who forsakes Truth can forsake his country and his nearest and dearest ones.

Loyalty to the President is great, but loyalty to truth, integrity, and country is even better.

I will fight for my country, but I will not lie for her.

As a citizen of this country, I've got to be honest to the people of South Africa.

I will not betray my country.

The only principles of public conduct that are worthy of a gentleman or a man are to sacrifice estate, ease, health, and applause, and even life, to the sacred calls of his country.

We heartily disapprove and repudiate any and all of the seditious utterances of said Robert M. La Follette as being absolutely unrepresentative of the people of Wisconsin and respectfully petition the United States Senate to expel him and thus give the people of Wisconsin the right to hold up their heads without shame.

We would not have a national discussion without the actions of Edward Snowden. Democracy is at work because of Edward Snowden.

If I am actually a traitor or anti-national, come and form a national commission. I will be there, and those who call me a traitor should also be there, so that the 220 million people of Pakistan can see who is the actual culprit.

Our people sacrifice a lot for their country, including their lives. None of them should have to sacrifice their integrity as well.

To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. Nothing but the truth should be spoken about him or any one else. But it is even more important to tell the truth, pleasant or unpleasant, about him than about any one else.

To God, thy country, and thy friend be true.

The constitutional right of free speech has been declared to be the same in peace and war. In peace, too, men may differ widely as to what loyalty to our country demands, and an intolerant majority, swayed by passion or by fear, may be prone in the future, as it has been in the past, to stamp as disloyal opinions with which it disagrees.

I see a lot of disloyalty around. I'm very loyal to people and that supersedes, frankly, party lines. But I'm very, very loyal to people and I'm also very loyal to people that I think are good for the country.

Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official, save exactly to the degree in which he himself stands by the country. It is patriotic to support him insofar as he efficiently serves the country. It is unpatriotic not to oppose him to the exact extent that by inefficiency or otherwise he fails in his duty to stand by the country. In either event, it is unpatriotic not to tell the truth, whether about the president or anyone else.

No man of honor, as the word is usually understood, did ever pretend that his honor obliged him to be chaste or temperate, to pay his creditors, to be useful to his country, to do good to mankind, to endeavor to be wise or learned, to regard his word, his promise, or his oath.

A real man will never let his fear of death overpower his honor, his sense of duty to his country, and his innate manhood.

In the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., "No lie will last forever." We have to work at removing lies from our own hearts. And on the national level, we do this not because we blame our country, but because we love it.

My definition of patriotism is to defend your country with the truth, no matter the consequences.

The way to be patriotic in America is not only to love America, but to love the duty that lies nearest to our hand, and to know that in performing it we are serving our country.

I mean, the notion that we must love everything in this country or get out and go someplace else is ridiculous. I mean, if you -- the best thing a patriotic American can do is to look and be critical and find out what's wrong and try to make it better. That's what a patriotic American does.

The consciousness of having discharged that duty which we owe to our country is superior to all other considerations.

If you can't get them to salute when they should salute and wear the clothes you tell them to wear, how are you going to get them to die for their country?

When the life of the nation was attempted, when the cause of liberty and human rights called for their aid, they rushed forth to rally under the banner they loved, with grand singleness of purpose and heroic devotion--leaving all behind them, to meet toil and danger, hunger, sickness, wounds, and death, for nothing but the sublime satisfaction of doing their duty to their country and to mankind.