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
country skills people
When language in common use in any country becomes irregular and depraved, it is followed by their ruin and degradation. For what do terms used without skill or meaning, which are at once corrupt and misapplied, denote but a people listless, supine, and ripe for servitude?
temples christ force
We read not that Christ ever exercised force but once; and that was to drive profane ones out of his Temple, not to force them in.
thinking land understanding
Truth and understanding are not such wares as to be monopolized and traded in by tickets and statutes and standards. We must not think to make a staple commodity of all the knowledge in the land, to mark and license it like our broadcloth and our woolpacks.
art dust return
Know thy birth! For dost thou art, and shalt to dust return.
war heaven violence
Heaven, the seat of bliss, Brooks not the works of violence and war.
God shall be all in all.
book paradise down-and
'Paradise Lost' is one of the books which the reader admires and lays down, and forgets to take up again. None ever wished it longer than it is.
vanity sin my-favorite
Vanity is definitely my favorite sin.
pride tongue vices
Virtue hath no tongue to check vice's pride.
knowing tree grew
The Tree of Knowledge grew fast by, Knowledge of Good bought dear by knowing ill.
nurse contemplation
Contemplation is wisdom's best nurse.
forgiveness eye evil
These evils I deserve, and more . . . . Justly, yet despair not of his final pardon, Whose ear is ever open, and his eye Gracious to re-admit the suppliant.
peace night light
But peaceful was the night Wherein the Prince of Light His reign of peace upon the earth began.
paradise way hell
Which way I fly is Hell; myself am Hell.