Works By John Milton

"Rocks whereon greatest men have oftest wreck'd."

"My heart hath been a store-house long of things And sayings laid up, portending strange events."

"For therein stands the office of a King, His Honour, Vertue, Merit and chief Praise, That for the Publick all this weight he bears. Yet he who reigns within himself, and rules Passions, Desires, and Fears, is more a King;"

"That fellowship in pain divides not smart, Nor lightens aught each mans peculiar load."

"I who e're while the happy Garden sung, By one mans disobedience lost, now sing Recover'd Paradise to all mankind, By one mans firm obedience fully tri'd Through all temptation, and the Tempter foil'd In all his wiles, defeated and repuls't, And Eden rais'd in the wast Wilderness."

"His coming, is sent Harbinger, who all Invites, and in the Consecrated stream Pretends to wash off sin"

"Most men admire Virtue who follow not her lore."

"For what is glory but the blaze of fame."

"On the fate of the Paradise Regained the voice of the public, which on a question of poetic excellence cannot for any long time be erroneous, has irrevocably decided. Not to object to the impropriety of the title, which would certainly be more consistent with a work on the death and the resurrection of our blessed Lord, the extreme narrowness of the plan of the poem, the small proportion of it which is assigned to action and the large part which is given to disputations and didactic dialogue, its paucity of characters and of poetic imagery, and, lastly, its general deficiency in the charm of numbers must for ever preclude it from any extended range of popularity. It may be liked and applauded by those who are resolute to like and are hardy to applaud: but to the great body of the readers of poetry, let the critics amuse themselves with their exertions as they please, it will always be "caviare." It is embellished however with several exquisite passages, and it certainly shows in some of its finer parts, the still existing author of the Paradise Lost."

"All is best, though we oft doubt, What the unsearchable dispose Of highest Wisdom brings about."

"What boots it at one gate to make defense, And at another to let in the foe?"

"Just are the ways of God, And justifiable to men; Unless there be who think not God at all."

"To live a life half dead, a living death."

"O dark, dark, dark, amid the blaze of noon, Irrecoverably dark, total eclipse Without all hope of day!"

"Socrates... Whom well inspired the oracle pronounced Wisest of men."

"The olive grove of Academe, Plato's retirement, where the Attic bird Trills her thick-warbled notes the summer long."

"Gorgons and Hydras and Chimæras dire."

"O'er many a frozen, many a fiery Alp, Rocks, caves, lakes, fens, bogs, dens, and shades of death."

"Mammon, the least erected spirit that fell From heaven; for ev’n in heaven his looks and thoughts Were always downward bent, admiring more The riches of heaven’s pavement, trodden gold, Than aught divine or holy else enjoy’d In vision beatific."

"Hail wedded love, mysterious law, true source Of human offspring."

"Eased the putting off These troublesome disguises which we wear."

"A gulf profound as that Serbonian bog Betwixt Damiata and Mount Casius old, Where armies whole have sunk: the parching air Burns frore, and cold performs th' effect of fire. Thither by harpy-footed Furies hal'd, At certain revolutions all the damn'd Are brought, and feel by turns the bitter change Of fierce extremes,—extremes by change more fierce; From beds of raging fire to starve in ice Their soft ethereal warmth, and there to pine Immovable, infix'd, and frozen round, Periods of time; thence hurried back to fire."

"Squat like a toad, close at the ear of Eve."

"Him thus intent Ithuriel with his spear Touch'd lightly; for no falsehood can endure Touch of celestial temper."

"Not to know me argues yourselves unknown, The lowest of your throng."

"Abashed the Devil stood, And felt how awful goodness is, and saw Virtue in her shape how lovely. —saw, and pined his loss."

"In naked beauty more adorn'd, More lovely than Pandora."

"Millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth Unseen, both when we wake, and when we sleep."

"Arm th' obdur'd breast With stubborn patience as with triple steel."

"Who overcomes By force, hath overcome but half his foe."

"[…] Here at least we shall be free; the Almighty hath not built Here for his envy, will not drive us hence: Here we may reign secure, and in my choice to reign is worth ambition though in Hell: Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven."

"With thee conversing I forget all time, All seasons, and their change; all please alike. Sweet is the breath of morn, her rising sweet, With charm of earliest birds; pleasant the sun When first on this delightful land he spreads His orient beams on herb, tree, fruit, and flower, Glist'ring with dew; fragrant the fertile earth After soft showers; and sweet the coming on Of grateful ev'ning mild; then silent night With this her solemn bird and this fair moon, And these the gems of heaven, her starry train: But neither breath of morn when she ascends With charm of earliest birds, nor rising sun On this delightful land, nor herb, fruit, flower, Glist'ring with dew, nor fragrance after showers, Nor grateful ev'ning mild, nor silent night With this her solemn bird, nor walk by moon Or glittering starlight, without thee is sweet."

"The timely dew of sleep."

"Vain wisdom all and false philosophy."

"The wakeful nightingale, She all night long her amorous descant sung; Silence was pleased: now glowed the firmament With living sapphires: Hesperus, that led The starry host, rode brightest, till the moon, Rising in clouded majesty, at length Apparent queen unveiled her peerless light, And o'er the dark her silver mantle threw."

"Now came still evening on, and twilight gray Had in her sober livery all things clad; Silence accompany'd; for beast and bird, They to their grassy couch, these to their nests, Were slunk, all but the wakeful nightingale; She all night long her amorous descant sung; Silence was pleas'd. Now glow'd the firmament With living sapphires; Hesperus, that led The starry host, rode brightest, till the moon, Rising in clouded majesty, at length Apparent queen unveil'd her peerless light, And o'er the dark her silver mantle threw."

"In discourse more sweet; For eloquence the soul, song charms the sense. Others apart sat on a hill retired, In thoughts more elevate, and reasoned high Of Providence, foreknowledge, will, and fate, Fixed fate, free will, foreknowledge absolute, And found no end, in wand'ring mazes lost."

"For who can yet believe, though after loss, That all these puissant legions, whose exile Hath emptied Heaven, shall fail to re-ascend, Self-raised, and repossess their native seat?"

"Knowledge forbidd'n? Suspicious, reasonless. Why should thir Lord Envie them that? can it be sin to know, Can it be death? and do they onely stand By Ignorance, is that thir happie state, The proof of thir obedience and thir faith? O fair foundation laid whereon to build Thir ruine! Hence I will excite thir minds With more desire to know, and to reject Envious commands, invented with designe To keep them low whom knowledge might exalt Equal with Gods; aspiring to be such, They taste and die: what likelier can ensue?"

"Live while ye may, Yet happy pair."

"Oh, shame to men! devil with devil damn'd Firm concord holds, men only disagree Of creatures rational."

"Imparadis'd in one another's arms."

"As Jupiter On Juno smiles, when he impregns the clouds That shed May flowers."

"The low'ring element Scowls o'er the darken'd landscape."

"Thrice he assay'd, and thrice in spite of scorn Tears, such as angels weep, burst forth."

"A mind not to be changed by place or time. The mind is its own place, and in itself Can make a heav'n of hell, a hell of heav'n."

"Yet from those flames No light, but rather darkness visible."

"So spake the Fiend, and with necessity, The tyrant's plea, excused his devilish deeds."

"Adam the goodliest man of men since born His sons, the fairest of her daughters Eve."

"Their rising all at once was as the sound Of thunder heard remote."