John Milton Quotes

Truth is compared in Scripture to a streaming fountain; if her waters flow not in perpetual progression, they sicken into a muddy pool of conformity and tradition.

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.

The other shape, If shape it might be call'd that shape had none Distinguishable in member, joint, or limb; Or substance might be call'd that shadow seem'd, For each seem'd either,--black it stood as night, Fierce as ten furies, terrible as hell, And shook a dreadful dart; what seem'd his head The likeness of a kingly crown had on. Satan was now at hand.

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

This having learnt, thou hast attained the sum Of wisdom; hope no higher, though all the stars Thou knew'st by name, and all th'ethereal powers, All secrets of the deep, all nature's works, Or works of God in heav'n, air, earth, or sea, And all the riches of this world enjoy'dst, And all the rule, one empire; onlyadd Deeds to thy knowledge answerable, add faith, Add virtue, patience, temperance, add love, By name to come called charity, the soul Of all the rest: then wilt thou not be loath To leave this Paradise, but shalt possess A paradise within thee, happier far.

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

If the will, which in the law of our nature, were withdrawn from our memory, fancy, understanding, and reason, no other hell could equal, for a spiritual being, what we should then feel from the anarchy of our powers. It would be conscious madness,--a horrid thought!

It is lawful and hath been held so through all ages for any one who have the power to call to account a tyrant or wicked king, and after due conviction to depose and put him to death.

Execute their airy purposes.

First Moloch, horrid king, besmirched in blood, Of Human sacrifice, and parent's tears, Though, for the noise of drums and timbrels loud, Their childrens' cries unheard, that passed through fire, To his grim idol.

Deep vers'd in books, and shallow in himself.

Pleas'd me, long choosing and beginning late.

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

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

For contemplation he and valour formed; / For softness she and sweet attractive grace, / He for God only, she for God in him: / His fair large front and eye sublime declared / Absolute rule.

Now morn, her rosy steps in th' eastern clime Advancing, sow'd the earth with orient pearl, When Adam wak'd, so custom'd; for his sleep Was aery light, from pure digestion bred.

God is decreeing to begin some newand great period in his Church, even to the reforming of Reformation itself. What does he then but reveal Himself to his servants, and as his manner is, first to his Englishmen?

A grateful mind/ By owing owes not, but still pays, at once/ Indebted and discharg'd.

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

Those graceful acts, those thousand decencies, that daily flow from all her words and actions, mixed with love and sweet compliance, which declare unfeigned union of mind, or in us both one soul.

The Tree of Knowledge grew fast by, Knowledge of Good bought dear by knowing ill.

Such bickerings to recount, met often in these our writers, what more worth is it than to chronicle the wars of kites or crows flocking and fighting in the air?

The debt immense of endless gratitude, So burthensome, still paying, still to owe; Forgetful what from him I still receivd, And understood not that a grateful mind By owing owes not, but still pays, at once Indebted and dischargd; what burden then?

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

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

Goodness thinks no ill Where no ill seems.

Imparadis'd in one another's arms.

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

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

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

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

Courage never to submit of yield.

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

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

Here the great art lies, to discern in what the law is to be to restraint and punishment, and in what things persuasion only is to work.

Grace was in all her steps, heaven in her eye, in every gesture dignity and love.

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

My mansion is, where those immortal shapes Of bright aerial spirits live insphered In regions mild of calm and serene air, Above the smoke and stir of this dim spot Which men call Earth.

A bevy of fair women.

Some say no evil thing that walks by night, In fog or fire, by lake or moorish fen, Blue meagre hag, or stubborn unlaid ghost That breaks his magic chains at curfew time, No goblin, or swart fairy of the mine, Hath hurtful power o'er true virginity.

The starry cope Of heaven.

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

But God himself is truth; in propagating which, as men display a greater integrity and zeal, they approach nearer to the similitude of God, and possess a greater portion of his love.

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

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

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

But say That death be not one stroke, as I supposed, Bereaving sense, but endless misery From this day onward, which I feel begun Both in me, and without me, and so last To perpetuity; ay me, that fear Comes thund'ring back with dreadful revolution On my defenceless head; both Death and I Am found eternal, and incorporate both, Nor I on my part single, in me all Paradise Lost Posterity stands cursed: fair patrimony That I must leave ye, sons; O were I able To waste it all myself, and leave ye none!

The gay motes that people the sunbeams.