The passages in which Milton has alluded to his own circumstances are perhaps read more frequently, and with more interest, than any other lines in his poems.

The end of government is the happiness of the people.

We never could clearly understand how it is that egotism, so unpopular in conversation, should be so popular in writing.

A church is disaffected when it is persecuted, quiet when it is tolerated, and actively loyal when it is favored and cherished.

As freedom is the only safeguard of governments, so are order and moderation generally necessary to preserve freedom.

We must judge a government by its general tendencies and not by its happy accidents.

Nothing is so useless as a general maxim.