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
knowledge firsts knows
The first and wisest of them all professed To know this only, that he nothing knew.
men causes argument
In argument with men a woman ever Goes by the worse, whatever be her cause.
marriage husband study
Nothing lovelier can be found In woman, than to study household good, And good works in her husband to promote.
dark eclipse bark
It was that fatal and perfidious bark, Built in th' eclipse, and rigg'd with curses dark.
lying waste wasting-time
What honour that, But tedious waste of time, to sit and hear So many hollow compliments and lies.
hands keys golden
Yet some there be that by due steps aspire To lay their just hands on that golden key That opes the palace of Eternity.
shame cynicism cynic
A beardless cynic is the shame of nature.
sheep looks hungry
The hungry sheep look up, and are not fed.
men dwelling grace
For God will deign to visit oft the dwellings of just men -- delighted, and with frequent intercourse -- thither will send his winged messengers on errants of supernal grace.
strong errors atheism
For truth is strong next to the Almighty. She needs no policies or stratagems or licensings to make her victorious. These are the shifts and the defences that error uses against her power.
winning government voice
Is it just or reasonable, that most voices against the main end of government should enslave the less number that would be free? more just it is, doubtless, if it come to force, that a less number compel a greater to retain, which can be no wrong to them, their liberty, than that a greater number, for the pleasure of their baseness, compel a less most injuriously to be their fellow-slaves. They who seek nothing but their own just liberty, have always right to win it and to keep it, whenever they have power, be the voices never so numerous that oppose it.
morning silly sheep
On the Morning of Christ's Nativity Perhaps their loves, or else their sheep, was all that did their silly thoughts so busy keep.
kings sacrifice blood
First Moloch, horrid king, besmirched in blood, Of Human sacrifice, and parent's tears, Though, for the noise of drums and timbrels loud, Their childrens' cries unheard, that passed through fire, To his grim idol.
wind meteors streaming
Th' imperial ensign, which full high advanc'd Shone like a meteor, streaming to the wind.