John Milton Quotes (574 Quotes)

A short retirement urges a sweet return.

True it is that covetousness is rich, modesty starves.

What is strength without a double share of wisdom Vast, unwieldy, burdensome, proudly secure, yet liable to fall By weakest subtleties strength's not made to rule, but to sub serve, where wisdom bears command.

The mountain nymph, sweet Liberty.

The gadding vine.

That golden key That opes the palace of eternity.

And sweeten'd every musk-rose of the dale.

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

What boots it at one gate to make defence, And at another to let in the foe.

Enflamed 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.

To know That which before us lies in daily life, Is the prime Wisdom what is more, is fume, Or emptiness, or fond impertinence

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

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

Black it stood as night, Fierce as ten furies, terrible as hell, And shook a dreadful dart.

But now my task is smoothly done, I can fly, or I can run.

Vain wisdom all, and false philosophy.

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

Execute their airy purposes.

The brood of Folly without father bred!

Man's disobedience) brought into this World a world of woe, Sin and her shadow Death, and Misery, Death's Harbinger

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

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

(That last infirmity of noble mind) To scorn delights, and live laborious days But the fair guerdon when we hope to find, And think to burst out into sudden blaze, Comes the blind Fury with th' abhorred shears And slits the thin-spun life.

Who ever knew truth put to the worse in a free and open encounter.

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.

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

To excuse our faults on the ground of our weakness is to quiet our fears at the expense of our hopes. To be weak is miserable, doing or suffering.

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

And storied windows richly dight, Casting a dim religious light.

Who overcomes by force, hath overcome but half his foe.

And ever against eating cares Lap me in soft Lydian airs, Married to immortal verse,

Be lowly wise Think only what concerns thee and thy being.

License they mean when they cry Liberty For who loves that, must first be wise and good.

With ruin upon ruin, rout on rout, Confusion worse confounded.

What hath night to do with sleep.

Or if Sion hill Delight thee more, and Siloa's brook, that flow'd Fast by the oracle of God.

Accuse not Nature she hath done her part Do thou but thine.

For neither man nor angel can discern Hypocrisy, the only evil that walks Invisible, except to God alone.

And over them triumphant Death his dart Shook, but delay'd to strike, though oft invok'd.

What though the field be lost All is not lost the unconquerable will, And study of revenge, immortal hate, And courage never to submit or yield.

He that has light within his own clear breast May sit in the centre, and enjoy bright day: But he that hides a dark soul and foul thoughts Benighted walks under the mid-day sun; Himself his own dungeon.

A little onward lend thy guiding hand To these dark steps, a little further on.

That in our proper motion we ascend Up to our native seat descent and fall To us is adverse.

Confirmed then I resolve,
Adam shall share with me in bliss or woe:
So dear I love him, that with him all deaths
I could endure, without him live no life.

Good, the more communicated, more abundant grows.

A man may be a heretic in the truth and if he believe things only because his pastor says so, or the assembly so determines, without knowing other reason, though his belief be true, yet the very truth he holds becomes his heresy.

I was all ear, And took in strains that might create a soul Under the ribs of death.

The timely dew of sleep.

Such sober certainty of waking bliss.

He who reigns within himself and rules passions, desires, and fears is more than a king.