John Milton
John Milton
John Miltonwas an English poet, polemicist, and man of letters, and a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell. He wrote at a time of religious flux and political upheaval, and is best known for his epic poem Paradise Lost, written in blank verse...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionPoet
Date of Birth9 December 1608
freedom men good-man
None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license.
freedom fall sufficient
Sufficient to have stood, though free to fall.
freedom men rome
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.
hope doleful paradise-lost-book-1
Where peace And rest can never dwell, hope never comes, That comes to all.
hope despair may
What reinforcement we may gain from hope; If not, what resolution from despair.
fate strict left
He left it in thy power, ordaind thy will By nature free, not over-rul'd by Fate Inextricable, or strict necessity;
daughter son men
So hand in hand they passed, the loveliest pair that ever since in love's embraces met -- Adam, the goodliest man of men since born his sons; the fairest of her daughters Eve.
change fear-of-change monarchs
Fear of change perplexes monarchs.
cures
Our cure, to be no more; sad cure!
Freely they stood who stood, and fell who fell.
hands eden tears
They, looking back, all the eastern side beheld Of Paradise, so late their happy seat, Waved over by that flaming brand, the gate With dreadful faces thronged and fiery arms: Some natural tears they dropped, but wiped them soon; The world was all before them, where to choose Their place of rest, and Providence their guide; They, hand in hand, with wandering steps and slow, Through Eden took their solitary way.
eye sky soul
And looks commercing with the skies, Thy rapt soul sitting in thine eyes.
hate self liberty
how wearisom Eternity so spent in worship paid To whom we hate. Let us not then pursue By force impossible, by leave obtain'd Unacceptable, though in Heav'n, our state Of splendid vassalage, but rather seek Our own good from our selves, and from our own Live to our selves, though in this vast recess, Free, and to none accountable, preferring Hard liberty before the easie yoke Of servile Pomp
happiness farewell joy
Farewell happy fields, Where joy forever dwells: Hail, horrors, hail.