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John Milton
442 quotes
“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?”
John Milton (1608–1674) first seen 1630 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On Shakespeare (1630)
“And so sepúlchred in such pomp dost lie, That kings for such a tomb would wish to die.”
John Milton (1608–1674) first seen 1630 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On Shakespeare (1630)
“How soon hath Time, the subtle thief of youth, Stol'n on his wing my three-and-twentieth year!”
John Milton (1608–1674) first seen 1631 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On His Having Arrived at the Age of Twenty-three (1631)
“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.”
John Milton (1608–1674) said by 1674 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The great Emathian conqueror bid spare The house of Pindarus, when temple and tower Went to the ground.”
John Milton (1608–1674) said by 1674 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Such sweet compulsion doth in music lie.”
John Milton (1608–1674) first seen 1630 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Arcades (1630-1634), line 68
“Under the shady roof Of branching elm star-proof.”
John Milton (1608–1674) first seen 1630 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Arcades (1630-1634), line 88
“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.”
John Milton (1608–1674) first seen 1633 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On Time (1633–34)
“O nightingale, that on yon bloomy spray Warbl'st at eve, when all the woods are still.”
John Milton (1608–1674) first seen 1637 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Sonnet, To the Nightingale (c. 1637)
“Blest pair of Sirens, pledges of Heaven's joy,”
John Milton (1608–1674) first seen 1637 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: At a Solemn Music (c. 1637), line 1
“Where the bright seraphim in burning row Their loud uplifted angel trumpets blow.”
John Milton (1608–1674) said by 1674 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A poet soaring in the high reason of his fancies, with his garland and singing robes about him.”
John Milton (1608–1674) first seen 1641 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Reason of Church Government (1641), Book II, Introduction
“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.”
John Milton (1608–1674) first seen 1641 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Reason of Church Government (1641), Book II, Introduction
“He who would not be frustrate of his hope to write well hereafter in laudable things ought himself to be a true poem.”
John Milton (1608–1674) first seen 1642 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Apology for Smectymnuus (1642)
“His words ... like so many nimble and airy servitors trip about him at command.”
John Milton (1608–1674) first seen 1642 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Apology for Smectymnuus (1642)
“I will not deny but that the best apology against false accusers is silence and sufferance, and honest deeds set against dishonest words.”
John Milton (1608–1674) first seen 1642 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Apology for Smectymnuus (1642)
“Truth...never comes into the world but like a bastard, to the ignominy of him that brought her forth.”
John Milton (1608–1674) first seen 1643 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce (1643), Introduction
“Let not England forget her precedence of teaching nations how to live.”
John Milton (1608–1674) first seen 1643 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce Preface: "TO THE PARLAMENT OF ENGLAND" (1643)
“Truth is as impossible to be soiled by any outward touch as the sunbeam.”
John Milton (1608–1674) first seen 1605 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce (1643), Introduction. Compare: "The sun, which passeth through pollutions and itself remains as pure as before", Francis Bacon, Advancement of Learning, Book ii (1605)
“Men of most renowned virtue have sometimes by transgressing most truly kept the law.”
John Milton (1608–1674) first seen 1644 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Tetrachordon (1644–1645)
“New Presbyter is but Old Priest writ Large.”
John Milton (1608–1674) first seen 1645 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On the new forcers of Conscience under the Long Parliament (1645)
“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.”
John Milton (1608–1674) first seen 1646 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: To Cyriack Skinner (1646–1647)
“For such kind of borrowing as this, if it be not bettered by the borrower, among good authors is accounted Plagiarè.”
John Milton (1608–1674) first seen 1649 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Eikonoklastes (1649), 23
“None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license.”
John Milton (1608–1674) first seen 1649 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Tenure of Kings and Magistrates (1649)
“No man who knows aught, can be so stupid to deny that all men naturally were born free.”
John Milton (1608–1674) first seen 1649 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Tenure of Kings and Magistrates (1649)
“Peace hath her victories No less renowned than war.”
John Milton (1608–1674) first seen 1652 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: To the Lord General Cromwell (1652)
“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.”
John Milton (1608–1674) first seen 1652 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On His Blindness (1652)
“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.”
John Milton (1608–1674) first seen 1652 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: When I Consider How My Light is Spent (Also known asOn His Blindness) (1652)
“Non est miserum esse caecum, miserum est caecitatem non posse ferre.”
John Milton (1608–1674) first seen 1654 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Pro Populo Anglicano Defensio Secunda (1654) p. 32
“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.”
John Milton (1608–1674) first seen 1655 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On the Late Massacre in Piedmont (1655)
“Cyriack, whose Grandsire on the Royal Bench Of British Themis, with no mean applause Pronounced and in his volumes taught our Laws, Which others at their Bar so often wrench”
John Milton (1608–1674) first seen 1655 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: To Cyriack Skinner (1655)
“Yet I argue not Against Heav'n's hand or will, nor bate one jot Of heart or hope; but still bear up, and steer Right onward.”
John Milton (1608–1674) first seen 1655 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: To Cyriack Skinner, upon His Blindness (c. 1655)
“Of which all Europe rings from side to side.”
John Milton (1608–1674) first seen 1655 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: To Cyriack Skinner, upon His Blindness (c. 1655)
“In mirth that after no repenting draws.”
John Milton (1608–1674) first seen 1655 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: To Cyriack Skinner, upon His Blindness (c. 1655)
“Lawrence, of virtuous father virtuous son”
John Milton (1608–1674) first seen 1656 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: To Mr. Lawrence (1656)
“Methought I saw my late espousèd saint Brought to me like Alcestis from the grave.”
John Milton (1608–1674) first seen 1658 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On His Deceased Wife (c. 1658)
“But oh! as to embrace me she inclined, I waked, she fled, and day brought back my night.”
John Milton (1608–1674) first seen 1658 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On His Deceased Wife (c. 1658)
“[Rhyme is] but the invention of a barbarous age, to set off wretched matter and lame Meter; ... Not without cause therefore some both Italian and Spanish poets of prime note have rejected rhyme, ... as have also long since our best English tragedies, as... trivial and of no true musical delight; which [truly] consists only in apt numbers, fit quantity of syllables, and the sense variously drawn out from one verse into another, not in the jingling sound of like endings, a fault avoided by the learned ancients both in poetry and all good oratory.”
John Milton (1608–1674) first seen 1668 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Introduction to Paradise Lost Added, 1668
“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?”
John Milton (1608–1674) first seen 1670 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The History of England (1670), Book IV
“For stories teach us, that liberty sought out of season, in a corrupt and degenerate age, brought Rome itself to a farther slavery: for liberty hath a sharp and double edge, fit only to be handled by just and virtuous men; to bad and dissolute, it becomes a mischief unwieldy in their own hands: neither is it completely given, but by them who have the happy skill to know what is grievance and unjust to a people, and how to remove it wisely; what good laws are wanting, and how to frame them substantially, that good men may enjoy the freedom which they merit, and the bad the curb which they need.”
John Milton (1608–1674) said by 1674 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Prose Works of John Milton, Volume II, Book III. (1847)
“Madam, methinks I see him living yet; So well your words his noble virtues praise, That all both judge you to relate them true, And to possess them, honour'd Margaret.”
John Milton (1608–1674) said by 1674 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The end of learning is to know God, and out of that knowledge to love Him and imitate Him.”
John Milton (1608–1674) said by 1674 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quote reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 364
“Such as may make thee search the coffers round.”
John Milton (1608–1674) said by 1674 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: At a Vacation Exercise. Line 31, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
“O fairest flower! no sooner blown but blasted, Soft silken primrose fading timelessly.”
John Milton (1608–1674) said by 1674 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ode on the Death of a fair Infant, dying of a Cough, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
“Thy liquid notes that close the eye of day.”
John Milton (1608–1674) said by 1674 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Sonnet to the Nightingale, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919). Compare: "That well by reason men it call may / The daisie, or els the eye of the day, / The emprise, and floure of floures all", G…
“As ever in my great Taskmaster's eye.”
John Milton (1608–1674) said by 1674 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On his being arrived to the Age of Twenty-three, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
“That old man eloquent.”
John Milton (1608–1674) said by 1674 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: To the Lady Margaret Ley, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
“That would have made Quintilian stare and gasp.”
John Milton (1608–1674) said by 1674 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On the Detraction which followed upon my writing certain Treatises, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
“License they mean when they cry, Liberty! For who loves that must first be wise and good.”
John Milton (1608–1674) said by 1674 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On the Detraction which followed upon my writing certain Treatises, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
“What neat repast shall feast us, light and choice, Of Attic taste?”
John Milton (1608–1674) said by 1674 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source