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John Milton
442 quotes
“Under the opening eyelids of the morn, We drove afield; and both together heard What time the gray-fly winds her sultry horn, Batt'ning our flocks with the fresh dews of night.”
John Milton (1608–1674) said by 1674 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“But O the heavy change, now thou art gone, Now thou art gone and never must return!”
John Milton (1608–1674) said by 1674 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The gadding vine.”
John Milton (1608–1674) said by 1674 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Alas! what boots it with incessant care To tend the homely slighted shepherd's trade, And strictly meditate the thankless Muse? Were it not better done as others use, To sport with Amaryllis in the shade, Or with the tangles of Neaera's hair? Fame is the spur that the clear spirit doth raise (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' abhorrèd shears, And slits the thin-spun life.”
John Milton (1608–1674) said by 1674 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Fame is no plant that grows on mortal soil.”
John Milton (1608–1674) said by 1674 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It was that fatal and perfidious bark, Built in th' eclipse, and rigged with curses dark, That sunk so low that sacred head of thine.”
John Milton (1608–1674) said by 1674 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Last came, and last did go, The Pilot of the Galilean lake; Two massy keys he bore of metals twain, (The golden opes, the iron shuts amain).”
John Milton (1608–1674) said by 1674 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Blind mouths! That scarce themselves know how to hold A sheep-hook.”
John Milton (1608–1674) said by 1674 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The hungry sheep look up, and are not fed, But, swoln with wind, and the rank mist they draw, Rot inwardly, and foul contagion spread: Besides what the grim wolf with privy paw Daily devours apace, and nothing said; But that two-handed engine at the door Stands ready to smite once, and smite no more.”
John Milton (1608–1674) said by 1674 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Throw hither all your quaint enamell'd eyes That on the green turf suck the honied showers, And purple all the ground with vernal flowers. Bring the rathe primrose that forsaken dies, The tufted crow-toe, and pale jessamine, The white pink, and the pansy freakt with jet, The glowing violet, The musk-rose, and the well-attir'd woodbine, With cowslips wan that hang the pensive head, And every flower that sad embroidery wears.”
John Milton (1608–1674) said by 1674 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Whether beyond the stormy Hebrides, Where thou perhaps under the whelming tide Visit'st the bottom of the monstrous world.”
John Milton (1608–1674) said by 1674 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Look homeward, Angel, now, and melt with ruth.”
John Milton (1608–1674) said by 1674 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“For Lycidas your sorrow is not dead, Sunk though he be beneath the watery floor; So sinks the day-star in the ocean bed; And yet anon repairs his drooping head, And tricks his beams, and with new-spangled ore Flames in the forehead of the morning sky. So Lycidas sunk low, but mounted high, Through the dear might of him that walked the waves.”
John Milton (1608–1674) said by 1674 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He touch'd the tender stops of various quills, With eager thought warbling his Doric lay.”
John Milton (1608–1674) said by 1674 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“At last he rose, and twitched his mantle blue: Tomorrow to fresh woods and pastures new.”
John Milton (1608–1674) said by 1674 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The end then of learning is to repair the ruins of our first parents.”
John Milton (1608–1674) said by 1674 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Litigious terms, fat contentions, and flowing fees.”
John Milton (1608–1674) said by 1674 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I shall detain you no longer in the demonstration of what we should not do, but straight conduct ye to a hillside, where I will point ye out the right path of a virtuous and noble education; laborious indeed at the first ascent, but else so smooth, so green, so full of goodly prospect and melodious sounds on every side that the harp of Orpheus was not more charming.”
John Milton (1608–1674) said by 1674 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Inflamed 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.”
John Milton (1608–1674) said by 1674 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Ornate rhetoric thought out of the rule of Plato... To which poetry would be made subsequent, or indeed rather precedent, as being less subtle and fine, but more simple, sensuous, and passionate.”
John Milton (1608–1674) said by 1674 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In those vernal seasons of the year, when the air is calm and pleasant, it were an injury and sullenness against Nature not to go out, and see her riches, and partake in her rejoicing with heaven and earth.”
John Milton (1608–1674) said by 1674 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Attic tragedies of stateliest and most regal argument.”
John Milton (1608–1674) said by 1674 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And chiefly Thou O Spirit, that dost prefer Before all Temples th' upright heart and pure, Instruct me, for Thou know'st; Thou from the first Wast present, and with mighty wings outspread Dove-like satst brooding on the vast Abyss And mad'st it pregnant: What in me is dark Illumine, what is low raise and support; That to the highth of this great Argument I may assert th' Eternal Providence, And justifie the wayes of God to men.”
John Milton (1608–1674) said by 1674 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The mind is its own place, and in itself Can make a heav'n of hell, a hell of heav'n.”
John Milton (1608–1674) said by 1674 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To reign is worth ambition though in Hell: Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven.”
John Milton (1608–1674) said by 1674 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“They looking back, all th' Eastern side beheld Of Paradise, so late thir happie seat, Wav'd over by that flaming Brand, the Gate With dreadful Faces throng'd and fierie Armes: Som natural tears they drop'd, but wip'd them soon; The World was all before them, where to choose Thir place of rest, and Providence thir guide: They hand in hand with wandring steps and slow, Through EDEN took thir solitarie way.”
John Milton (1608–1674) first seen 1532 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: x.1532-40
“Be frustrate, all ye stratagems of Hell, And devilish machinations come to nought.”
John Milton (1608–1674) said by 1674 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Behold the kings of the Earth how they oppress Thy chosen, to what highth thir pow'r unjust They have exalted, and behind them cast All fear of thee, arise and vindicate Thy Glory, free thy people from thir yoke”
John Milton (1608–1674) said by 1674 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My rising is thy fall”
John Milton (1608–1674) said by 1674 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“But he, though blind of sight, Despised, and thought extinguished quite, With inward eyes illuminated, His fiery virtue roused From under ashes into sudden flame, [...] So Virtue, given for lost, Depressed and overthrown, as seemed, Like that self-begotten bird In the Arabian woods embost, That no second knows nor third, And lay erewhile a holocaust, From out her ashy womb now teemed, Revives, reflourishes, then vigorous most When most unactive deemed; And, though her body die, her fame survives, A secular bird, ages of lives.”
John Milton (1608–1674) said by 1674 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Lines 1687-1692 & 1697-1707
“So little care they of beasts to make them men, that by their sorcerous doctrine of formalities, they take the way to transform them out of Christian men into judaizing beasts. Had they but taught the land, or suffered it to be taught, as Christ would it should have been in all plenteous dispensation of the word, then the poor mechanic might have so accustomed his ear to good teaching, as to have discerned between faithful teachers and false. But now, with a most inhuman cruelty, they who have put out the people's eyes, reproach them of their blindness; just as the Pharisees their true fathers were wont, who could not endure that the people should be thought competent judges of Christ's doctrine, although we know they judged far better than those great rabbis: yet “this people,” said they, “that know not the law is accursed.”
John Milton (1608–1674) first seen 1642 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Apology for Smectymnuus (1642), section VIII
“Of Man's first disobedience, and the fruit Of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste Brought death into the world, and all our woe.”
John Milton (1608–1674) said by 1674 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Or if Sion hill Delight thee more, and Siloa's brook, that flow'd Fast by the oracle of God.”
John Milton (1608–1674) said by 1674 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme.”
John Milton (1608–1674) said by 1674 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“What in me is dark Illumine, what is low raise and support, That to the height of this great argument I may assert eternal Providence, And justify the ways of God to men.”
John Milton (1608–1674) said by 1674 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“As far as angels' ken.”
John Milton (1608–1674) said by 1674 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Yet from those flames No light, but rather darkness visible.”
John Milton (1608–1674) said by 1674 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Where peace And rest can never dwell, hope never comes That comes to all.”
John Milton (1608–1674) said by 1674 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“What though the field be lost? All is not lost; th' unconquerable will, And study of revenge, immortal hate, And courage never to submit or yield.”
John Milton (1608–1674) said by 1674 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“To be weak is miserable, Doing or suffering.”
John Milton (1608–1674) said by 1674 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“And out of good still to find means of evil.”
John Milton (1608–1674) said by 1674 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Farewell happy fields, Where joy forever dwells: hail, horrors!”
John Milton (1608–1674) said by 1674 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“A mind not to be chang'd by place or time. The mind is its own place, and in itself Can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.”
John Milton (1608–1674) said by 1674 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Here we may reign secure; and in my choice To reign is worth ambition, though in hell: Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven.”
John Milton (1608–1674) said by 1674 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Heard so oft In worst extremes, and on the perilous edge Of battle.”
John Milton (1608–1674) said by 1674 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“His spear, to equal which the tallest pine Hewn on Norwegian hills to be the mast Of some great ammiral were but a wand, He walk'd with to support uneasy steps Over the burning marle.”
John Milton (1608–1674) said by 1674 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Thick as autumnal leaves that strow the brooks In Vallombrosa, where th' Etrurian shades High over-arch'd imbower.”
John Milton (1608–1674) said by 1674 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Awake, arise, or be forever fallen!”
John Milton (1608–1674) said by 1674 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Spirits when they please Can either sex assume, or both.”
John Milton (1608–1674) said by 1674 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Execute their airy purposes.”
John Milton (1608–1674) said by 1674 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source