"No man has so happily copied the manner of Homer, or so copiously translated his Grecisms, and the Latin elegancies of Virgil. It is true he runs into a flat of thought, sometimes for a hundred lines together, but it is when he has got into a track of Scripture."

"He touch'd the tender stops of various quills, With eager thought warbling his Doric lay."

"At last he rose, and twitched his mantle blue: Tomorrow to fresh woods and pastures new."

"The end then of learning is to repair the ruins of our first parents."

"Litigious terms, fat contentions, and flowing fees."

"I shall detain you no longer in the demonstration of what we should not do, but straight conduct ye to a hillside, where I will point ye out the right path of a virtuous and noble education; laborious indeed at the first ascent, but else so smooth, so green, so full of goodly prospect and melodious sounds on every side that the harp of Orpheus was not more charming."

"Inflamed with the study of learning and the admiration of virtue; stirred up with high hopes of living to be brave men and worthy patriots, dear to God, and famous to all ages."

"Ornate rhetoric thought out of the rule of Plato... To which poetry would be made subsequent, or indeed rather precedent, as being less subtle and fine, but more simple, sensuous, and passionate."

"In those vernal seasons of the year, when the air is calm and pleasant, it were an injury and sullenness against Nature not to go out, and see her riches, and partake in her rejoicing with heaven and earth."

"Attic tragedies of stateliest and most regal argument."

"And chiefly Thou O Spirit, that dost prefer Before all Temples th' upright heart and pure, Instruct me, for Thou know'st; Thou from the first Wast present, and with mighty wings outspread Dove-like satst brooding on the vast Abyss And mad'st it pregnant: What in me is dark Illumine, what is low raise and support; That to the highth of this great Argument I may assert th' Eternal Providence, And justifie the wayes of God to men."

"The mind is its own place, and in itself Can make a heav'n of hell, a hell of heav'n."

"To reign is worth ambition though in Hell: Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven."

"They looking back, all th' Eastern side beheld Of Paradise, so late thir happie seat, Wav'd over by that flaming Brand, the Gate With dreadful Faces throng'd and fierie Armes: Som natural tears they drop'd, but wip'd them soon; The World was all before them, where to choose Thir place of rest, and Providence thir guide: They hand in hand with wandring steps and slow, Through EDEN took thir solitarie way."

"Be frustrate, all ye stratagems of Hell, And devilish machinations come to nought."

"Behold the kings of the Earth how they oppress Thy chosen, to what highth thir pow'r unjust They have exalted, and behind them cast All fear of thee, arise and vindicate Thy Glory, free thy people from thir yoke"

"My rising is thy fall"

"And pomp, and feast, and revelry, With mask, and antique pageantry, Such sights as youthful poets dream On summer eves by haunted stream. Then to the well-trod stage anon, If Jonson's learned sock be on, Or sweetest Shakespeare, Fancy's child, Warble his native wood-notes wild, And ever, against eating cares, Lap me in soft Lydian airs, Married to immortal verse Such as the meeting soul may pierce, In notes with many a winding bout Of linked sweetness long drawn out."

"What needs my Shakespeare for his honoured bones, The labor of an age in pilèd stones, Or that his hallowed relics should be hid Under a star-y-pointing pyramid? Dear son of memory, great heir of fame, What need'st thou such weak witness of thy name?"

"And so sepúlchred in such pomp dost lie, That kings for such a tomb would wish to die."

"How soon hath Time, the subtle thief of youth, Stol'n on his wing my three-and-twentieth year!"

"Captain or Colonel, or Knight in Arms, Whose chance on these defenceless doors may seize, If ever deed of honour did thee please, Guard them, and him within protect from harms."

"The great Emathian conqueror bid spare The house of Pindarus, when temple and tower Went to the ground."

"Such sweet compulsion doth in music lie."

"Under the shady roof Of branching elm star-proof."

"Fly, envious Time, till thou run out thy race: Call on the lazy leaden-stepping Hours, Whose speed is but the heavy plummet's pace; And glut thyself with what thy womb devours, Which is no more than what is false and vain, And merely mortal dross."

"O nightingale, that on yon bloomy spray Warbl'st at eve, when all the woods are still."

"Blest pair of Sirens, pledges of Heaven's joy,"

"Where the bright seraphim in burning row Their loud uplifted angel trumpets blow."

"A poet soaring in the high reason of his fancies, with his garland and singing robes about him."

"By labor and intent study (which I take to be my portion in this life), joined with the strong propensity of nature, I might perhaps leave something so written to after-times, as they should not willingly let it die."

"He who would not be frustrate of his hope to write well hereafter in laudable things ought himself to be a true poem."

"His words ... like so many nimble and airy servitors trip about him at command."

"I will not deny but that the best apology against false accusers is silence and sufferance, and honest deeds set against dishonest words."

"So little care they of beasts to make them men, that by their sorcerous doctrine of formalities, they take the way to transform them out of Christian men into judaizing beasts. Had they but taught the land, or suffered it to be taught, as Christ would it should have been in all plenteous dispensation of the word, then the poor mechanic might have so accustomed his ear to good teaching, as to have discerned between faithful teachers and false. But now, with a most inhuman cruelty, they who have put out the people's eyes, reproach them of their blindness; just as the Pharisees their true fathers were wont, who could not endure that the people should be thought competent judges of Christ's doctrine, although we know they judged far better than those great rabbis: yet “this people,” said they, “that know not the law is accursed.”"

"Truth...never comes into the world but like a bastard, to the ignominy of him that brought her forth."

"Let not England forget her precedence of teaching nations how to live."

"Truth is as impossible to be soiled by any outward touch as the sunbeam."

"Men of most renowned virtue have sometimes by transgressing most truly kept the law."

"New Presbyter is but Old Priest writ Large."

"For other things mild Heav'n a time ordains, And disapproves that care, though wise in show, That with superfluous burden loads the day, And, when God sends a cheerful hour, refrains."

"For such kind of borrowing as this, if it be not bettered by the borrower, among good authors is accounted Plagiarè."

"None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license."

"Avenge, O Lord, thy slaughtered saints, whose bones Lie scattered on the Alpine mountains cold; Ev'n them who kept thy truth so pure of old When all our fathers worshipped stocks and stones Forget not."

"Non est miserum esse caecum, miserum est caecitatem non posse ferre."

"Who best Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best: his state Is kingly; thousands at his bidding speed, And post o'er land and ocean without rest; They also serve who only stand and wait."

"When I consider how my light is spent, Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide, And that one talent which is death to hide Lodged with me useless."

"Peace hath her victories No less renowned than war."

"Meadows trim, with daisies pied, Shallow brooks, and rivers wide; Towers and balements it sees Bosomed high in tufted trees, Where perhaps some beauty lies, The cynosure of neighboring eyes."

"And every shepherd tells his tale Under the hawthorn in the dale."