“It is natural for man to indulge in the illusions of hope and pride. 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.”
Patrick Henry, A passage from the “Give me Liberty or Give Me Death” Speech at the Second Virginia Convention at St. John’s Church in Richmond, Virginia (23 March 1775); first published in Life and Character of Patrick Henry (1817) by William Wirt
