Top 500 John Milton Quotes (2026 Update)
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151. “Perplexed and troubled at his bad success The Tempter stood, nor had what to reply, Discovered in his fraud, thrown from his hope.”

— John Milton

152. “Fame is the spur that the clear spirit doth raise. That last infirmity of noble mind. To scorn delights, and live laborious days.”

— John Milton

153. “I thence invoke my thy aid to my adventurous song, That with no middle flight intends to soar above the Aonian mount, while it pursues Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme.”

— John Milton

154. “Love Virtue, she alone is free, She can teach ye how to climb Higher than the sphery chime; Or, if Virtue feeble were, Heav’n itself would stoop to her.”

— John Milton

155. “Commands are no constraints.”

— John Milton

156. “A crown Golden in show, is but a wreath of thorns, Bring dangers, troubles, cares, and sleepless nights To him who wears the regal diadem.”

— John Milton

157. “Yet I shall temper so Justice with mercy, as may illustrate most Them fully satisfy’d, and thee appease.”

— John Milton

158. “Truth is compared in Scripture to a streaming fountain; if her waters flow not in perpetual progression, they sicken into a muddy pool of conformity and tradition.”

— John Milton

159. “I did but prompt the age to quit their clogs By the known rules of ancient liberty, When straight a barbarous noise environs me Of owls and cuckoos, asses, apes and dogs.”

— John Milton

160. “Smiles from reason flow, To brute deny’d, and are of love the food.”

— John Milton

161. “Ease would recant Vows made in pain, as violent and void.”

— John Milton

162. “Should God create another Eve, and I Another Rib afford, yet loss of thee Would never from my heart; no no, I feel The Link of Nature draw me: Flesh of Flesh, Bone of my Bone thou art, and from thy State Mine never shall be parted, bliss or woe.”

— John Milton

163. “Leaves have their time to fall, And flowers to wither at the north – wind’s breath, And stars to set; but all, Thou hast all seasons for thine own, O Death!”

— John Milton

164. “Promiscuous reading is necessary to the constituting of human nature. The attempt to keep out evil doctrine by licensing is like the exploit of that gallant man who thought to keep out the crows by shutting the park gate.”

— John Milton

Featured in: Reading Quotes

165. “Never can true reconcilement grow where wounds of deadly hate have pierced so deep...”

— John Milton

166. “O fleeting joys Of Paradise, dear bought with lasting woes!”

— John Milton

167. “O sun, to tell thee how I hate thy beams That bring to my remembrance from what state I fell, how glorious once above thy sphere.”

— John Milton

168. “Beauty stands In the admiration only of weak minds Led captive.”

— John Milton

169. “Part of my soul I seek thee, and claim thee my other half.”

— John Milton

170. “Pandemonium, the palace of Satan rises, suddenly built of the deep: the infernal peers there sit in council.”

— John Milton

171. “O loss of sight, of thee I most complain! Blind among enemies, O worse than chains, Dungeon, or beggary, or decrepit age!”

— John Milton

172. “Suffering for truth’s sake Is fortitude to highest victory, And to the faithful death the gate of life.”

— John Milton

173. “Blind mouths! That scarce themselves know how to hold A sheep-hook.”

— John Milton

174. “For neither man nor angel can discern hypocrisy, the only evil that walks invisible, except to God alone.”

— John Milton

175. “A broad and ample road, whose dust is gold, And pavement stars, – as stars to thee appear Seen in the galaxy, that milky way Which nightly as a circling zone thou seest Powder’d with stars.”

— John Milton

176. “Servant of God, well done! well hast thou fought The better fight, who single hast maintain’d Against revolted multitudes the cause of truth.”

— John Milton

177. “I will not allow my daughters to learn foreign languages because one tongue is sufficient for a woman.”

— John Milton

178. “Yet beauty, though injurious, hath strange power, After offence returning, to regain Love once possess’d.”

— John Milton

179. “My latest found, Heaven’s last, best gift, my ever new delight!”

— John Milton

180. “Sport, that wrinkled Care derides, And Laughter holding both his sides. Come and trip it as ye go, On the light fantastic toe.”

— John Milton

181. “Tears such as angels weep.”

— John Milton

182. “Fate shall yield To fickle Chance, and Chaos judge the strife.”

— John Milton

183. “Sweet is the breath of morn, her rising sweet, With charm of earliest birds.”

— John Milton

184. “There is nothing that making men rich and strong but that which they carry inside of them. True wealth is of the heart, not of the hand.”

— John Milton

Featured in: Strong Quotes

185. “In dim eclipse, disastrous twilight sheds On half the nations, and with fear of change Perplexes monarchs.”

— John Milton

186. “New Presbyter is but Old Priest writ Large.”

— John Milton

187. “Opinion in good men is but knowledge in the making.”

— John Milton

188. “Our state cannot be severed, we are one, One flesh; to lose thee were to lose myself.”

— John Milton

189. “Oh, shame to men! devil with devil damn’d Firm concord holds, men only disagree Of creatures rational.”

— John Milton

190. “Rich and various gems inlay The unadorned bosom of the deep.”

— John Milton

191. “Wild above rule or art, enormous bliss.”

— John Milton

192. “Is it true, O Christ in heaven, that the highest suffer the most? That the strongest wander furthest and most hopelessly are lost? That the mark of rank in nature is capacity for pain? That the anguish of the singer makes the sweetness of the strain?”

— John Milton

193. “Love-quarrels oft in pleasing concord end.”

— John Milton

194. “The olive grove of Academe, Plato’s retirement, where the Attic bird Trills her thick-warbled notes the summer long.”

— John Milton

195. “Take heed lest passion sway Thy judgement to do aught, which else free will Would not admit.”

— John Milton

196. “Nothing lovelier can be found In woman, than to study household good, And good works in her husband to promote.”

— John Milton

197. “Anon out of the earth a fabric huge Rose, like an exhalation.”

— John Milton

198. “And I will place within them as a guide My umpire conscience, whom if they will hear Light after light well used they shall attain, And to the end persisting, safe arrive.”

— John Milton

199. “Now I see Peace to corrupt no less than war to waste.”

— John Milton

200. “In argument with men a woman ever Goes by the worse, whatever be her cause.”

— John Milton