Top 576 John Milton Quotes (Updated June 2023)

Explore a treasure trove of wisdom and insight from John Milton through their most impactful and thought-provoking quotes and sayings. Broaden your horizons with their inspiring words and share these beautiful quote pictures from John Milton with your friends and followers on popular social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, or your personal blog - all free of charge. Delve into our collection of the top 576 John Milton quotes, handpicked for you to discover and share with others.

What honour that, But tedious waste of time, to sit and hear So many hollow compliments and lies. By John Milton

For Solomon, he lived at ease, and full Of honour, wealth, high fare, aimed not beyond Higher design than to enjoy his state. By John Milton

The nodding horror of whose shady brows Threats the forlorn and wandering passenger. By John Milton

Sweet bird, that shun the noise of folly, most musical, most melancholy! By John Milton

Farewell happy fields,Where joy forever dwells: Hail, horrors, hail. By John Milton

They who have put out the people's eyes reproach them of their blindness. By John Milton

Govern well thy appetite, lest Sin surprise thee, and her black attendant Death. By John Milton

On the tawny sands and shelves trip the pert fairies and the dapper elves. By John Milton

Rocks whereon greatest men have oftest wreck'd. By John Milton

Nothing profits more than self-esteem, grounded on what is just and right. By John Milton

Taste this, and be henceforth among the Gods thyself a Goddess. By John Milton

These two imparadised in one another's arms, the happier Eden, shall enjoy their fill of bliss on bliss. By John Milton

For books are as meats and viands are; some of good, some of evil sub-stance. By John Milton

As to my blindness, I would rather have mine, if it be necessary, than either theirs, More or yours. By John Milton

Yours be the advantage all, mine the revenge By John Milton

And if by prayer Incessant I could hope to change the will Of Him who all things can, I would not cease To weary Him with my assiduous cries. By John Milton

Thick as autumnal leaves that strow the brooks In Vallombrosa, where th' Etrurian shades High over-arch'd imbower. By John Milton

Antichrist is Mammon's son. By John Milton

Eye me, blest Providence, and square my trial To my proportion'd strength. By John Milton

O visions ill foreseen! Better had I Liv'd ignorant of future, so had borne My part of evil only. By John Milton

From morn to noon he fell, from noon to dewy eve, a summer's day; and with the setting sun dropped from the zenith like a falling star. By John Milton

And God made two great lights, great for their useTo man, the greater to have rule by day, The less by night ... By John Milton

No institution which does not continually test its ideals, techniques and measure of accomplishment can claim real vitality. By John Milton

Revenge, at first though sweet, Bitter ere long back on itself recoils. By John Milton

The Tempter ere th' Accuser of man-kind, To wreck on innocent frail man his loss Of that first Battel, and his flight to Hell: Yet By John Milton

Ere the blabbing eastern scout, The nice morn, on th' Indian steep From her cabin'd loop-hole peep. By John Milton

What better can we do than prostrate fall before Him reverent, and there confess humbly our faults, and pardon beg with tears watering the ground? By John Milton

A good book is the precious life-blood of a master spirit, embalmed and treasured up on purpose to a life beyond life. By John Milton

Let her and Falsehood grapple; who ever knew Truth put to the worse in a free and open encounter? By John Milton

The timely dew of sleep Now falling with soft slumb'rous weight inclines Our eyelids. By John Milton

In vain doth valour bleed, While Avarice and Rapine share the land. By John Milton

When thou attended gloriously from heaven , Shalt in the sky appear, and from thee send Thy summoning archangels to proclaim Thy dread tribunal. By John Milton

To many a youth and many a maid, dancing in the chequer'd shade. By John Milton

Nor love thy life, nor hate; but what thou livest,Live well; how long, or short, permit to Heaven. By John Milton

Who knows not Circe, The daughter of the Sun , whose charmed cup Whoever tasted, lost his upright shape, And downward fell into a groveling swine? By John Milton

Come let us haste, the stars grow high, But night sits monarch yet in the mid sky. By John Milton

Thus Belial, with words clothed in reason's garb, counseled ignoble ease, and peaceful sloth, not peace. By John Milton

In dim eclipse, disastrous twilight sheds On half the nations, and with fear of change Perplexes monarchs. By John Milton

Thou canst not touch the freedom of my mind. By John Milton

That practis'd falsehood under saintly shew, Deep malice to conceal, couch'd with revenge. By John Milton

To overcome in battle, and subdue Nations, and bring home spoils with infinite Man-slaughter, shall be held the highest pitch Of human glory. By John Milton

We read not that Christ ever exercised force but once; and that was to drive profane ones out of his Temple, not to force them in. By John Milton

Therefore God's universal law Gave to the man despotic power Over his female in due awe, Not from that right to part an hour, Smile she or lour. By John Milton

The low'ring element Scowls o'er the darken'd landscape. By John Milton

Consult ... /what reinforcement we may gain from hope,/If not, what resolution from despair. By John Milton

What neat repast shall feast us, light and choice, Of Attic taste? By John Milton

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

Peace hath her victories, no less renowned than war. By John Milton

Confidence imparts a wonderful inspiration to the possessor. By John Milton

Every cloud has a silver lining By John Milton

God is thy law, thou mine: to know no more Is woman's happiest knowledge and her praise. With thee conversing I forget all time. By John Milton

Sweetest Echo, sweetest nymph, that liv'st unseen Within thy airy shell, By slow Meander's margent green, And in the violet-embroidered vale. By John Milton

He 's gone, and who knows how he may report Thy words by adding fuel to the flame? By John Milton

And to thy husband's willThine shall submit; he over thee shall rule. By John Milton

And now the herald lark Left his ground-nest, high tow'ring to descry The morn's approach, and greet her with his song. By John Milton

If this fail, The pillar'd firmament is rottenness, And earth's base built on stubble. By John Milton

Morn, Wak'd by the circling hours, with rosy hand Unbarr'd the gates of light. By John Milton

Hail, wedded love, mysterious law; true source of human happiness. By John Milton

Bacchus, that first from out the purple grapeCrush'd the sweet poison of misused wine. By John Milton

Confounded, though immortal. But his doom, reserved him to more wrath; for now the thought both of lost happiness and lasting pain torments him. By John Milton

His words, like so many nimble and airy servitors, trip about him at command. Ibid. By John Milton

Such I created all th' Ethereal Powers And Spirits, both them who stood & them who faild; Freely they stood who stood, and fell who fell. Not By John Milton

A man may be ungrateful, but the human race is not so. By John Milton

A short retirement urges a sweet return. By John Milton

Say, heavenly pow'rs, where shall we find such love? Which of ye will be mortal to redeem Man's mortal crime, and just th' unjust to save. By John Milton

With thee goesThy husband, him to follow thou art bound;Where he abides, think there thy native soil. By John Milton

He also went invisible, yet stayed (such privilege hath omnipresence). By John Milton

Must I thus leave thee, Paradise?-thus leave Thee, native soil, these happy walks and shades? By John Milton

What if Earth be but the shadow of Heaven and things therein - each other like, more than on Earth is thought? By John Milton

Of calling shapes, and beck'ning shadows dire,And airy tongues that syllable men's names. By John Milton

The wary fiend stood on the brink of hell, pondering his voyage By John Milton

I fled, and cry'd out, Death; Hell trembled at the hideous name, and sigh'd From all her caves, and back resounded, Death. By John Milton

Better to reign in hell than serve in heav'n. By John Milton

The mind is a universe and can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven. By John Milton

You can make hell out of heaven and heaven out of hell. It's all in the mind. By John Milton

Let none admire that riches grow in hell; that soil may best deserve the precious bane. By John Milton

Which way I fly is Hell; myself am Hell. By John Milton

Hell
Fly

Long is the way and hard, that out of Hell leads up to light. By John Milton

But wherefore thou alone? Wherefore with thee Came not all hell broke loose? By John Milton

Who would not, finding way, break loose from hell, ... And boldly venture to whatever place Farthest from pain? By John Milton

See with what heat these Dogs of Hell advanceTo waste and havoc yonder World. By John Milton

Hell has no benefits, only torture. By John Milton

Better to reign in Hell, than to serve in Heaven. By John Milton

And some are fall'n, to disobedience fall'n, And so from Heav'n to deepest Hell; O fall From what high state of bliss into what woe! By John Milton

Nor jealousy Was understood, the injur'd lover's hell. By John Milton

A shout that tore hell's concave, and beyond / Frightened the reign of Chaos and old Night. By John Milton

And looks commercing with the skies,Thy rapt soul sitting in thine eyes. By John Milton

A bevy of fair women. By John Milton

Equally inured by moderation either state to bear, prosperous or adverse. By John Milton

For Man to tell how human life began is hard; for who himself beginning knew? By John Milton

Sometime let gorgeous Tragedy In sceptred pall come sweeping by, Presenting Thebes, or Pelops' line, Or the tale of Troy divine. By John Milton

No man [ ... ] can be so stupid to deny that all men naturally were born free, being the image and resemblance of God himself. By John Milton

A beardless cynic is the shame of nature. By John Milton

Can any mortal mixture of earth's mould Breathe such divine enchanting ravishment? By John Milton

And on their naked limbs the flowry roof/Show'r'd Rose, which the Morn repair'd. By John Milton

And, re-assembling our afflicted powers, consult how we may henceforth most offend. By John Milton

Good, the more communicated, more abundant grows. By John Milton

It was the winter wild, While the Heaven-born child, All meanly wrapt in the rude manger lies. By John Milton

Seasoned life of man preserved and stored up in books. By John Milton

The Angel ended, and in Adam's ear So charming left his voice, that he awhile Thought him still speaking, still stood fix'd to hear. By John Milton

To whom the wilie Adder, blithe and glad. By John Milton

Deep vers'd in books, and shallow in himself. By John Milton

And every shepherd tells his tale Under the hawthorn in the dale. By John Milton

Hail holy light, offspring of heav'n firstborn! By John Milton

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

So Satan, whom repulse upon repulse Met ever, and to shameful silence brought, Yet gives not o'er though desperate of success. By John Milton

Perplexed and troubled at his bad success The Tempter stood, nor had what to reply, Discovered in his fraud, thrown from his hope. By John Milton

Pandemonium, the high capital Of Satan and his peers. By John Milton

Law can discover sin, but not remove, Save by those shadowy expiations weak. By John Milton

Darkness now rose, as daylight sunk, and brought in low'ring Night her shadowy offspring. By John Milton

Fear of change perplexes monarchs. By John Milton

So on this windy sea of land, the Fiend Walked up and down alone bent on his prey. By John Milton

The martyrs shook the powers of darkness with the irresistible power of weakness. By John Milton

On a sudden open fly With impetuous recoil and jarring sound Th' infernal doors, and on their hinges grate Harsh thunder. By John Milton

It was that fatal and perfidious bark, Built in th' eclipse, and rigg'd with curses dark. By John Milton

Each tree Laden with fairest fruit, that hung to th' eye Tempting, stirr'd in me sudden appetite To pluck and eat. By John Milton

Th' imperial ensign, which full high advanc'd Shone like a meteor, streaming to the wind. By John Milton

Th' unconquerable will,/ And study of revenge, immortal hate,/ And courage never to submit or yield/ And what is else not to be overcome? By John Milton

Where glowing embers through the roomTeach light to counterfeit a gloom ... By John Milton

Ladies, whose bright eyes Rain influence, and judge the prize. By John Milton

The greatest burden in the world is superstition, not only of ceremonies in the church, but of imaginary and scarecrow sins at home. By John Milton

Courtesy which oft is found in lowly sheds, with smoky rafters, than in tapestry halls and courts of princes, where it first was named. By John Milton

Though we take from a covetous man all his treasure, he has yet one jewel left; you cannot bereave him of his covetousness. By John Milton

But see! theVirgin blessed Hath laid her Babe to rest. Time is our tedious song should here have ending. By John Milton

The love-lorn nightingale nightly to thee her sad song mourneth well. By John Milton

Son of Heav'n and Earth, Attend: that thou art happy, owe to God; That thou continuest such, owe to thyself, That is, to thy obedience; therein stand. By John Milton

Ride the air In whirlwind. By John Milton

Arms on armour clashing bray'd Horrible discord, and the madding wheels Of brazen chariots rag'd: dire was the noise Of conflict. By John Milton

What can 'scape the eyeOf God, all-seeing, or deceive His heart.Omniscient! By John Milton

Let us no more contend, nor blame each other, blamed enough elsewhere, but strive, In offices of love, how we may lighten each other's burden. By John Milton

Not to know at large of things remoteFrom use, obscure and subtle, but to knowThat which before us lies in daily life,Is the prime wisdom. By John Milton

One sip of this will bathe the drooping spirits in delight, beyond the bliss of dreams. By John Milton

With diadem and sceptre high advanced,The lower still I fall; only supremeIn misery; such joy ambition finds. By John Milton

If it come to prohibiting, there is aught more likely to be prohibited than truth itself. By John Milton

When the new light which we beg for shines in upon us, there be [those] who envy and oppose, if it come not first in at their casements. By John Milton

Be strong, live happy and love, but first of allHim whom to love is to obey, and keepHis great command! By John Milton

There are no songs comparable to the songs of Zion, no orations equal to those of the prophets, and no politics like those which the Scriptures teach. By John Milton

See golden days, fruitful of golden deeds, With joy and love triumphing. By John Milton

Now the bright morning-star, day's harbinger, comes dancing from the east. By John Milton

New Presbyter is but Old Priest writ Large. By John Milton

Thy liquid notes that close the eye of day. By John Milton

[Censors] rake through the entrails of many an old good author, with a violation worse than any could be offered to his tomb. By John Milton

Yet some there be that by due steps aspire To lay their just hands on that golden key That opes the palace of Eternity. By John Milton

Death is the golden key that opens the palace of eternity. By John Milton

The superior man acquaints himself with many sayings of antiquity and many deeds of the past, in order to strengthen his character thereby. By John Milton

Where the bright seraphim in burning rowTheir loud uplifted angel trumpets blow. By John Milton

Boast not of what thou would'st have done, but do. By John Milton

The winds with wonder whist, Smoothly the waters kisst. By John Milton

Loneliness is the first thing which God's eye named not good. By John Milton

So much I feel my genial spirits droop, My hopes all flat, nature within me seems In her functions weary of herself. By John Milton

The oracles are dumb, No voice or hideous hum Runs thro' the arched roof in words deceiving. By John Milton

I hate when vice can bolt her arguments,And virtue has no tongue to check her pride. By John Milton

Sweet bird that shunn'st the nose of folly, Most musical, most melancholy! Thee, chauntress, oft, the woods among, I woo, to hear thy even-song. By John Milton

Behold now this vast city [London]; a city of refuge, the mansion-house of liberty, encompassed and surrounded with His protection. By John Milton

Neither man nor angel can discern hypocrisy, the only evil that walks invisible except to God alone. By John Milton

And to the faithful: death, the gate of life. By John Milton

Beauty is nature's brag, and must be shown in courts, at feasts, and high solemnities, where most may wonder at the workmanship. By John Milton

Anarchy is the sure consequence of tyranny; for no power that is not limited by laws can ever be protected by them. By John Milton

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

And on the Tree of Life, The middle tree and highest there that grew, Sat like a cormorant. By John Milton

There swift return Diurnal, merely to officiate light Round this opacous earth, this punctual spot. By John Milton

O fleeting joys Of Paradise, dear bought with lasting woes! By John Milton

So he with difficulty and labour hard Mov'd on, with difficulty and labour he. By John Milton

No mighty trance, or breathed spell Inspires the pale-eyed priest from the prophetic cell. By John Milton

If we think we regulate printing, thereby to rectify manners, we must regulate all regulations and pastimes, all that is delightful to man. By John Milton

Beholding the bright countenance of truth in the quiet and still air of delightful studies. By John Milton

So many laws argues so many sins. By John Milton

Laws can discover sin, but not remove it By John Milton

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

I was all ear, And took in strains that might create a soul Under the ribs of Death. By John Milton

Yet I shall temper so Justice with mercy, as may illustrate most Them fully satisfy'd, and thee appease. By John Milton

The goal of all learning is to repair the ruin of our first parents. By John Milton

And sing to those that hold the vital shears; And turn the adamantine spindle round, On which the fate of gods and men is wound. By John Milton

O when meet now Such pairs, in love and mutual honour joined? By John Milton

The spirits perverse with easy intercourse pass to and fro, to tempt or punish mortals. By John Milton

Virtue could see to do what Virtue would by her own radiant light, though sun and moon where in the flat sea sunk. By John Milton

The wife, where danger or dishonor lurks, safest and seemliest by her husband stays, who guards her, or with her the worst endures. By John Milton

And as an ev'ning dragon came, Assailant on the perched roosts And nests in order rang'd Of tame villatic fowl. By John Milton

I fear yet this iron yoke of outward conformity hath left a slavish print upon our necks: the ghost of a linnen decency yet haunts us. By John Milton

Herbs, and other country messes, Which the neat-handed Phillis dresses. By John Milton

So glistered the dire Snake , and into fraud Led Eve, our credulous mother, to the Tree Of Prohibition, root of all our woe. By John Milton

By night the GlassOf Galileo ... observesImagin'd Land and Regions in the Moon. By John Milton

Danger will wink on opportunity. By John Milton

A crown Golden in show, is but a wreath of thorns, Bring dangers, troubles, cares, and sleepless nights To him who wears the regal diadem By John Milton

All is best, though we oft doubt, what the unsearchable dispose, of highest wisdom brings about. By John Milton

Who, as they sung, would take the prison'd soul And lap it in Elysium. By John Milton

At His birth a star, unseen before in heaven, proclaims Him come. By John Milton

The stars, that nature hung in heaven, and filled their lamps with everlasting oil, give due light to the misled and lonely traveller. By John Milton

Who can in reason then or right assume monarchy over such as live by right his equals, if in power or splendor less, in freedom equal? By John Milton

Hung over her enamour'd, and beheld Beauty, which, whether waking or asleep, Shot forth peculiar graces. By John Milton

Bid amaranthus all his beauty shed,And daffodillies fill their cups with tears,To strew the laureate to hearse when Lycid lies. By John Milton

Time is the subtle thief of youth. By John Milton

Evil into the mind of god or man may come and go, so unapproved, and leave no spot or blame behind. By John Milton

As therefore the state of man now is, what wisdom can there be to choose, what continence to forbear, without the knowledge of good and evil? By John Milton

Wherefore did he [God] create passions within us, pleasures round about us, but that these rightly tempered are the very ingredients of virtue? By John Milton

Beauty is Nature's coin, must not be hoarded, But must be current, and the good thereof Consists in mutual and partaken bliss. By John Milton

Smiles from reason flow, To brute deny'd, and are of love the food. By John Milton

To hear the lark begin his flight, And singing startle the dull Night, From his watch-tower in the skies, Till the dappled dawn doth rise. By John Milton

Much of the Soul they talk, but all awry;And in themselves seek virtue; and to themselvesAll glory arrogate, to God give none By John Milton

Servant of God, well done! well hast thou foughtThe better fight, who single hast maintain'dAgainst revolted multitudes the cause of truth. By John Milton

Fairest of stars, last in the train of night, If better thou belong not to the dawn. By John Milton

Farewell Hope, and with Hope farewell Fear By John Milton

Yet hold it more humane, more heav'nly, first, By winning words to conquer willing hearts, And make persuasion do the work of fear. By John Milton

Athens, the eye of Greece, mother of arts And eloquence. By John Milton

Even the demons are encouraged when their chief is not lost in loss itself. By John Milton

The bird of Jove, stoop'd from his aery tour, Two birds of gayest plume before him drove. By John Milton

Angels contented with their face in heaven,Seek not the praise of men. By John Milton

Freely we serveBecause we freely love, as in our willTo love or not; in this we stand or fall. By John Milton

Be lowly wise: Think only what concerns thee and thy being. By John Milton

Man hath his daily work of body or mind Appointed, which declares his dignity, And the regard of Heav'n on all his ways. By John Milton

Heaven, the seat of bliss, Brooks not the works of violence and war. By John Milton

It was from out the rind of one apple tasted, that the knowledge of good and evil, as two twins cleaving together, leaped forth into the world. By John Milton

I must not quarrel with the willOf highest dispensation, which herein,Haply had ends above my reach to know. By John Milton

Death to life is crown or shame. By John Milton

The spirit of man, which God inspired, cannot together perish with this corporeal clod. By John Milton

So shall the world go on, To good malignant, to bad men benign, Under her own weight groaning. By John Milton

The end of all learning is to know God, and out of that knowledge to love and imitate Him. By John Milton

And feel by turns the bitter changeOf fierce extremes, extremes by change more fierce. By John Milton

With ruin upon ruin, rout on rout, Confusion worse confounded. By John Milton

O fairest flower! no sooner blown but blasted, Soft silken primrose fading timelessly. By John Milton

From that high mount of God whence light and shade Spring both, the face of brightest heaven had changed To grateful twilight. By John Milton

Good luck befriend thee, Son; for at thy birth The fairy ladies danced upon the hearth. By John Milton

Truth never comes into the world but like a bastard, to the ignominy of him that brought her birth. By John Milton

Gabriel, to thee thy course by lot hath given Charge and strict watch that to this happy place No evil thing approach or enter in. By John Milton

Their rising all at once was as the soundOf thunder heard remote. By John Milton

Pleas'd me, long choosing and beginning late. By John Milton

Who aspires must down as lowAs high he soar'd. By John Milton

Where peaceAnd rest can never dwell, hope never comes,That comes to all. By John Milton

Hope elevates, and joyBrightens his crest. By John Milton

This horror will grow mild, this darkness light. By John Milton

Sole reigning holds the tyranny of Heav'n. By John Milton

'Paradise Lost' is one of the books which the reader admires and lays down, and forgets to take up again. None ever wished it longer than it is. By John Milton

Not to know me argues yourselves unknown. By John Milton

So farewell hope, and with hope farewell fear,Farewell remorse: all good to me is lost;Evil,be thou my good. By John Milton

The never-ending flight Of future days. By John Milton

Still paying, still to owe.Eternal woe! By John Milton

They changed their minds, Flew off, and into strange vagaries fell. By John Milton

What hath night to do with sleep? By John Milton

God is thy law, thou mine. By John Milton

And the more I see Pleasures about me, so much more I feel Torment within me. By John Milton

A boundless continent, Dark, waste, and wild, under the frown of night Starless expos'd. By John Milton

So scented the grim Feature, and upturn'd His nostril wide into the murky air, Sagacious of his quarry from so far. By John Milton

For evil news rides post, while good news baits. By John Milton

Take heed lest passion sway Thy judgement to do aught, which else free will Would not admit. By John Milton

So spake the Son, and into terrour chang'd His count'nance too severe to be beheld And full of wrauth bent on his Enemies. By John Milton

Zeal and duty are not slowBut on occasion's forelock watchful wait. By John Milton

Satan; so call him now, his former name Is heard no more in heaven. By John Milton

Those whom reason hath equalled, force hath made supreme By John Milton

And, when nightDarkens the streets, then wander forth the sonsOf Belial, flown with insolence and wine. By John Milton

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

Let no man seekHenceforth to be foretold that shall befallHim or his children. By John Milton

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

God has set labor and rest, as day and night to men successive. By John Milton

I on the other side Us'd no ambition to commend my deeds; The deeds themselves, though mute, spoke loud the doer. By John Milton

More safe I sing with mortal voice, unchang'd To hoarse or mute, though fall'n on evil days, On evil days though fall'n, and evil tongues. By John Milton

Yet beauty, though injurious, hath strange power, After offence returning, to regain Love once possess'd. By John Milton

But O yet more miserable! Myself my sepulchre, a moving grave. By John Milton

A good principle not rightly understood may prove as hurtful as a bad. By John Milton

We live Law to ourselves. Our reason is our Law. By John Milton

God shall be all in all. By John Milton

Rather than be less Car'd not to be at all. By John Milton

Spirits that live throughout, Vital in every part, not as frail man, In entrails, heart or head, liver or reins, Cannot but by annihilating die. By John Milton

Day and night,Seed-time and harvest, heat and hoary frostShall hold their course, till fire purge all things new. By John Milton

His rod revers'd, And backward mutters of dissevering power. By John Milton

That who advances his glory, not their own, Them he himself to glory will advance. By John Milton

Rich and various gems inlay The unadorned bosom of the deep. By John Milton

Now conscience wakes despair That slumber'd,-wakes the bitter memory Of what he was, what is, and what must be Worse. By John Milton

And live like Nature's bastards, not her sons. By John Milton

Our cure, to be no more; sad cure! By John Milton

Cure
Sad

Nor think thou with wind Of aery threats to awe whom yet with deeds Thou canst not. By John Milton

Indu'd With sanctity of reason. By John Milton

And fast by, hanging in a golden chain, This pendent world, in bigness as a star Of smallest magnitude, close by the moon. By John Milton

Biochemically, love is just like eating large amounts of chocolate. By John Milton

Thy actions to thy words accord; thy wordsTo thy large heart give utterance due; thy heart;Contains of good, wise, just, the perfect shape. By John Milton

Where no hope is left, is left no fear. By John Milton

Beauty is God's handwriting-a wayside sacrament. By John Milton

Come, pensive nun, devout and pure, sober steadfast, and demure, all in a robe of darkest grain, flowing with majestic train. By John Milton

But what will not ambition and revengeDescend to? By John Milton

The virtuous mind that ever walks attendedBy a strong siding champion, Conscience. By John Milton

Who can enjoy alone? Or all enjoying what contentment find? By John Milton

Chaos umpire sits And by decision more embroils the fray by which he reigns: next him high arbiter Chance governs all. By John Milton

Seas wept from our deep sorrows. By John Milton

Consider first, that great or bright infers not excellence. By John Milton

The pious and just honoring of ourselves may be thought the fountainhead from whence every laudable and worthy enterprise issues forth. By John Milton

Back to thy punishment, False fugitive, and to thy speed add wings. By John Milton

The brazen throat of war. By John Milton

Just deeds are the best answer to injurious words. By John Milton

No man who knows aught, can be so stupid to deny that all men naturally were born free. By John Milton

Where shame is, there is also fear. By John Milton

Fear
Shame

And miserable it is to be to others cause of misery ... By John Milton

Faithful found among the faithless. By John Milton

Lifted up so high I disdained subjection, and thought one step higher would set me highest. By John Milton

Virtue, which breaks through opposition and all temptation can remove, most shines, and most is acceptable above. By John Milton

But infinite in pardon is my Judge. By John Milton

If we think to regulat Printing, thereby to rectifie manners, we must regulat all recreations and pastimes, all that is delightfull to Man. By John Milton

Ink is the blood of the printing-press. By John Milton

The mountain nymph, sweet Liberty. By John Milton

His sleep Was aery light, from pure digestion bred. By John Milton

Most men admireVirtue who follow not her lore. By John Milton

Firm they might have stood, yet fell; remember, and fear to transgress. By John Milton

Untwisting all the chains that tie The hidden soul of harmony. By John Milton

The pilot of the Galilean lake; Two massy keys he bore, of metals twain (The golden opes, the iron shuts amain). By John Milton

Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties. By John Milton

Swinish gluttony never looks to heaven amidst its gorgeous feast; but with besotted, base ingratitude, cravens and blasphemes his feeder. By John Milton

None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but licence. By John Milton

Our state cannot be severed, we are one,One flesh; to lose thee were to lose myself. By John Milton

Freely they stood who stood, and fell who fell. By John Milton

It is Chastity, my brother. She that has that is clad in complete steel. By John Milton

For no falsehood can endureTouch of celestial temper. By John Milton

Was I deceiv'd, or did a sable cloud Turn forth her silver lining on the night? By John Milton

The childhood shows the man, as morning shows the day. By John Milton

Come and trip it as ye goOn the light fantastic toe. By John Milton

O dark, dark, dark, amid the blaze of noon,Irrecoverably dark, total eclipseWithout all hope of day! By John Milton

Heaven open'd wide Her ever during gates, harmonious sound, On golden hinges moving. By John Milton

They eat, they drink, and in communion sweet Quaff immortality and joy. By John Milton

Or sweetest Shakespeare, Fancy's child! By John Milton

Sweet intercourse of looks and smiles; for smiles from reason flow. By John Milton

United thoughts and counsels, equal hope And hazard in the glorious enterprise. By John Milton

Oft, on a plat of rising ground, I hear the far-off curfew sound Over some wide-watered shore, Swinging low with sullen roar. By John Milton

Look homeward, Angel, now, and melt with ruth. By John Milton

Apostate, still thou err'st, nor end wilt findOffering, from the paths of truth remote. By John Milton

Ease would recant Vows made in pain, as violent and void. By John Milton

And join with thee calm Peace and Quiet, Spare Fast, that oft with gods doth diet. By John Milton

And these gems of Heav'n, her starry train. By John Milton

But he who destroys a good book, kills reason itself By John Milton

Come knit hands, and beat the ground in a light fantastic round By John Milton

So little knowsAny but God alone to value rightThe good before him but perverts best thingsTo worst abuse or to their meanest use. By John Milton

To live a life half dead, a living death. By John Milton

Spirits when they please Can either sex assume, or both. By John Milton

That power Which erring men call Chance. By John Milton

What is dark within me, illumine. By John Milton

Beyond is all abyss, eternity, whose end no eye can reach. By John Milton

Earth felt the wound; and Nature from her seat, Sighing through all her works, gave signs of woe That all was lost. By John Milton

Have hung My dank and dropping weeds To the stern god of sea. By John Milton

Wild above rule or art, enormous bliss. By John Milton

The great creator from his work returned Magnificent, his six days' work, a world. By John Milton

There is no truth sure enough to justify persecution. By John Milton

Let us go forth and resolutely dare with sweat of brow to toil our little day. By John Milton

The liberty of conscience, which above all other things ought to be to all men dearest and most precious. By John Milton

Hard are the ways of truth, and rough to walk. By John Milton

Then wilt thou not be loath To leave this Paradise, but shalt possess A Paradise within thee, happier far. By John Milton

A grateful mind by owing owes not, but still pays, at once indebted and discharged; what burden then? By John Milton

All is not lost, the unconquerable will, and study of revenge, immortal hate, and the courage never to submit or yield. By John Milton

None But such as are good men can give good things, And that which is not good, is not delicious To a well-govern'd and wise appetite. By John Milton

No date prefixed directs me in the starry rubric set. By John Milton

All hope is lost of my reception into grace; what worse? For where no hope is left, is left no fear. By John Milton

Now I see Peace to corrupt no less than war to waste. By John Milton

What need a man forestall his date of grief, And run to meet what he would most avoid?. By John Milton

Did I request thee, Maker, from my clayTo mould me man? Did I solicit theeFrom darkness to promote me? By John Milton

The rising world of waters dark and deep. By John Milton

...a darkIllimitable ocean, without bound,Without dimension; where length, breadth, and height,And time, and place are lost; By John Milton

As in an organ from one blast of windTo many a row of pipes the soundboard breathes. By John Milton

Ev'n them who kept thy truth so pure of old, When all our fathers worshipp'd stocks and stones. By John Milton

But peaceful was the night Wherein the Prince of Light His reign of peace upon the earth began. By John Milton

The conquer'd, also, and enslaved by war, Shall, with their freedom lost, all virtue lose. By John Milton

A limbo large and broad, since call'd The Paradise of Fools to few unknown. By John Milton

The sun to me is dark And silent as the moon, When she deserts the night Hid in her vacant interlunar cave. By John Milton

And what is faith, love, virtue unassay'd alone, without exterior help sustained? By John Milton

Necessity and chance Approach not me, and what I will is fate. By John Milton

It were a journey like the path to heaven, To help you find them. By John Milton

Thoughts that voluntary move Harmonious numbers. By John Milton

But to create Is greater than created to destroy. By John Milton

For what is glory but the blaze of fame? By John Milton

This manner of writing wherein knowing myself inferior to myself? I have the use, as I may account it, but of my left hand. By John Milton

with ambitious aim against the throne and monarchy of God rais'd impious war in Heav'n and battel proud By John Milton

The strongest and the fiercest spirit That fought in heaven, now fiercer by despair. By John Milton

Prudence is the virtue by which we discern what is proper to do under various circumstances in time and place. By John Milton

And oft, though wisdom wake, suspicion sleeps At wisdom's gate, and to simplicity Resigns her charge, while goodness thinks no ill Where no ill seems. By John Milton

First there was Chaos,the vast immeasurable abyssOutrageous as a sea,dark, wasteful, wild. By John Milton

Rose out of Chaos: By John Milton

Chaos
Rose

Where more is meant than meets the ear. By John Milton

Time will run back and fetch the Age of Gold. By John Milton

Heaven's last best gift, my ever new delight. By John Milton

Nothing lovelier can be found In woman, than to study household good, And good works in her husband to promote. By John Milton

Dark with excessive bright. By John Milton

Knowledge cannot defile, nor consequently the books, if the will and conscience be not defiled. By John Milton

A death-like sleep,A gentle wafting to immortal life. By John Milton

From his lips/Not words alone pleased her. By John Milton

Praise from an enemy smells of craft. By John Milton

Mutual love, the crown of all our bliss. By John Milton

This is servitude, To serve the unwise. By John Milton

Believe and be confirmed. By John Milton

Confirmed

Solitude is sometimes the best society. By John Milton

Fame is no plant that grows on mortal soil. By John Milton

I sat me down to watch upon a bank With ivy canopied and interwove With flaunting honeysuckle. By John Milton

By a certain fate, great acts, and great eloquence have most commonly gone hand in hand, equalling and honoring each other in the same ages. By John Milton

Time, though in Eternity, appliedTo motion, measures all things durableBy present, past, and future. By John Milton

Apt words have power to suage the tumors of a troubled mind. By John Milton

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

Flowers of all hue, and without thorn the rose. By John Milton

And pomp, and feast, and revelry, With mask, and antique pageantry, Such sights as youthful poets dream On summer eves by haunted stream. By John Milton

Sufficient to have stood, though free to fall. By John Milton

In God's intention, a meet and happy conversation is the chiefest and noblest end of marriage. By John Milton

The redundant locks, robustious to no purpose, clustering downvast monument of strength. By John Milton

Fate shall yieldTo fickle Chance, and Chaos judge the strife. By John Milton

My sentence is for open war. By John Milton

Truth is as impossible to be soiled by any outward touch as the sunbeam. By John Milton

Tower'd cities please us then, And the busy hum of men. By John Milton

Only supreme in misery! By John Milton

Which, if not victory, is yet revenge. By John Milton

Assuredly we bring not innocence not the world, we bring impurity much rather: that which purifies us is trial, and trial is by what is contrary. By John Milton

Subdue By force, who reason for their law refuse, Right reason for their law. By John Milton

Thou art my father, thou my author, thou my being gav'st me; whom should I obey but thee, whom follow? By John Milton

Come to the sunset tree! The day is past and gone; The woodman's axe lies free, And the reaper's work is done. By John Milton

Moping melancholy And moon-struck madness. By John Milton

No worthy enterprise can be done by us without continual plodding and wearisomeness to our faint and sensitive abilities. By John Milton

Enjoy your dear wit and gay rhetoric, That hath so well been taught her dazzling fence. By John Milton

From haunted spring and dale Edg'd with poplar pale The parting genius is with sighing sent. By John Milton

Anon out of the earth a fabric huge Rose, like an exhalation. By John Milton

Fame is the last infirmity of the human mind. By John Milton

His form had yet not lost All her original brightness, nor appear'd Less than archangel ruin'd, and th' excess Of glory obscur'd. By John Milton

Virtue that wavers is not virtue. By John Milton

And add to these retired Leisure, That in trim gardens take his pleasure. By John Milton

Thus I set my printless feet O'er the cowslip's velvet head, That bends not as I tread. By John Milton

The helmed Cherubim,And sworded Seraphim,Are seen in glittering ranks with wings display'd. By John Milton

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

God does not need man nor his won works. By John Milton

Fairy damsels met in forest wide / By knights of Logres, or of Lyones, / Lancelot or Pelleas, or Pellenore. By John Milton

The gay motes that people the sunbeams. By John Milton

Freely we serve, because freely we love. By John Milton

Heav'nly love shall outdoo Hellish hate By John Milton

I sung of Chaos and Eternal Night,Taught by the heav'nly Muse to venture downThe dark descent, and up to reascend ... By John Milton

Know thy birth!For dost thou art, and shalt to dust return. By John Milton

Let us descend now therefore from this top Of speculation. By John Milton

Part of my soul I seek thee, and claim thee my other half By John Milton

Hide me from day's garish eye. By John Milton

Innumerable as the stars of night, Or stars of morning, dewdrops which the sun Impearls on every leaf and every flower. By John Milton

And feel that I am happier than I know. By John Milton

Feel
Happier

The planets in their station list'ning stood. By John Milton

Courage never to submit of yield. By John Milton

Retiring from the popular noise, I seekThis unfrequented place to find some ease. By John Milton

His legions - Angel Forms, who lay entranced Thick as autumnal leaves that strow the brooks By John Milton

Beauty stands In the admiration only of weak minds Led captive. By John Milton

Don't hold grudges; it's pointless. Jealousy too is a non-cathartic, negative emotion. . By John Milton

Cedar, and pine, and fir, and branching palm, A sylvan scene, and as the ranks ascend Shade above shade, a woody theatre Of stateliest view. By John Milton

Solitude sometimes is best society. By John Milton

Well observe The rule of Not too much, by temperance taught In what thou eat'st and drink'st. By John Milton

Who shall silence all the airs and madrigals that whisper softness in chambers? By John Milton

Out of such prison, though Spirits of purest light, Purest at first, now gross by sinning grown. By John Milton

On the Morning of Christ's Nativity Perhaps their loves, or else their sheep, was all that did their silly thoughts so busy keep. By John Milton

In contemplation of created things, by steps we may ascend to God. By John Milton

Reason also is choice. By John Milton

There is nothing that making men rich and strong but that which they carry inside of them. True wealth is of the heart, not of the hand. By John Milton

Justice divine Mends not her slowest pace for prayers or cries. By John Milton

True it is that covetousness is rich, modesty starves. By John Milton

Knowledge forbidden?Suspicious, reasonless. Why should their LordEnvy them that? Can it be a sin to know?Can it be death? By John Milton

To know that which lies before us in daily life is the prime wisdom. By John Milton

Evil, be thou my good. By John Milton

Men of most renowned virtue have sometimes by transgressing most truly kept the law. By John Milton

Virtue hath no tongue to check vice's pride. By John Milton

Virtue may be assailed, but never hurt, Surprised by unjust force, but not enthralled. By John Milton

Her virtue and the conscience of her worth, That would be woo'd, and not unsought be won. By John Milton

God sure esteems the growth and completing of one virtuous person, more that the restraint of ten vicious. By John Milton

To be weak is miserable,Doing or suffering. By John Milton

Money brings honor, friends, conquest, and realms. By John Milton

Such sober certainty of waking bliss. By John Milton

Ah, why should all mankindFor one man's fault, be condemned,If guiltless? By John Milton

Who kills a man kills a reasonable creature, God's image, but thee who destroys a good book, kills reason its self. By John Milton

God made thee perfect, not immutable. By John Milton

God, who oft descends to visit menUnseen, and through their habitations walksTo mark their doings. By John Milton

Sable-vested Night, eldest of things. By John Milton

high words, that bore Semblance of worth not substance, gently By John Milton

Death from sin no power can separate. By John Milton

Numerous, and every Starr perhaps a World Of destind habitation; but By John Milton

Opinion in good men is but knowledge in the making. By John Milton

I will not allow my daughters to learn foreign languages because one tongue is sufficient for a woman. By John Milton

Immediate are the acts of God, more swift than time or motion. By John Milton

O Conscience, into what abyss of fearsAnd horrors hast thou driven me, out of whichI find no way, from deep to deeper plunged. By John Milton

Calm of mind, all passion spent. By John Milton

The earth, though in comparison of heaven so small, nor glistering, may of solid good contain more plenty than the sun, that barren shines. By John Milton

Where all life dies death lives. By John Milton

The teachers of our law, and to proposeWhat might improve my knowledge or their own. By John Milton

In naked beauty more adorn'd, More lovely than Pandora. By John Milton

So little is our loss, So little is thy gain. By John Milton

Imparadis'd in one another's arms. By John Milton

Her silent course advance With inoffensive pace, that spinning sleeps On her soft axle. By John Milton

Yet from those flames No light, but rather darkness visible. By John Milton

To be blind is not miserable; not to be able to bear blindness, that is miserable. By John Milton

To adore the conqueror, who now beholds Cherub and seraph rolling in the flood. By John Milton

Innocence, Once Lost, Can Never Be Regained. Darkness, Once Gazed Upon, Can Never Be Lost. By John Milton

From restless thoughts, that, like a deadly swarm Of hornets arm'd, no sooner found alone, But rush upon me thronging. By John Milton

Celestial light, shine inward ... that I may see and tell of things invisible to mortal sight By John Milton

High on a throne of royal state, which far By John Milton

The first and wisest of them all professed To know this only, that he nothing knew. By John Milton

Forget thyself to marble. By John Milton

Midnight shout and revelry, Tipsy dance and jollity. By John Milton

And the earth self-balanced on her centre hung. By John Milton

But oh! as to embrace me she inclin'd, I wak'd, she fled, and day brought back my night. By John Milton

What hath the night to do with sleep? By John Milton

With a smile that glow'd Celestial rosy red, love's proper hue. By John Milton

Such sweet compulsion doth in music lie. By John Milton

With cowslips wan that hang the pensive head, And every flower that sad embroidery wears. By John Milton

Our country is where ever we are well off. By John Milton

Country

Evil on itself shall back recoil. By John Milton

The best apology against false accusers is silence. By John Milton

Lethe, the river of oblivion, rolls his watery labyrinth, which whoso drinks forgets both joy and grief. By John Milton

Midnight brought on the dusky hour Friendliest to sleep and silence. By John Milton

What boots it at one gate to make defence, And at another to let in the foe? By John Milton

The whole freedom of man consists either in spiritual or civil liberty. By John Milton

He that hath light within their own breast, may sit in the centre and enjoy bright day. By John Milton

Commands are no constraints. By John Milton

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

The work under our labour grows, Luxurious by restraint. By John Milton

Blind mouths! That scarce themselves know how to hold A sheep-hook. By John Milton

Let not England forget her precedence of teaching nations how to live. By John Milton

Among unequals what society Can sort, what harmony, or true delight? By John Milton

In Physic, things of melancholic hue and quality are used against melancholy, sour against sour, salt to remove salt humors. By John Milton

Let none henceforth seek needless cause to approve The faith they owe; when earnestly they seek Such proof, conclude, they then begin to fail. By John Milton