Top 500 John Milton Quotes (2024 Update)
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251. “Commands are no constraints.”

— John Milton

252. “Thus Belial, with words clothed in reason’s garb, counseled ignoble ease, and peaceful sloth, not peace.”

— John Milton

253. “In God’s intention, a meet and happy conversation is the chiefest and noblest end of marriage.”

— John Milton

254. “The leaf was darkish, and had prickles on it, But in another country, as he said, Bore a bright golden flow’r, but not in this soil; Unknown, and like esteem’d, and the dull swain Treads on it daily with his clouted shoon.”

— John Milton

255. “It was from out the rind of one apple tasted, that the knowledge of good and evil, as two twins cleaving together, leaped forth into the world.”

— John Milton

256. “Wickedness is weakness.”

— John Milton

257. “Virtue may be assailed, but never hurt, Surprised by unjust force, but not inthralled; Yea, even that which mischief meant most harm Shall in the happy trial prove most glory.”

— John Milton

258. “And the more I see Pleasures about me, so much more I feel Torment within me.”

— John Milton

259. “Myself, and all the Angelic Host, that stand in the sight of God enthroned, our happy state hold, as you yours, while our obedience hold. On other surety none: freely we serve, because we freely love.”

— John Milton

260. “Hear all ye angels, progeny of light, Thrones, dominations, princedoms, virtues, powers.”

— John Milton

261. “Sole reigning holds the tyranny of Heav’n.”

— John Milton

262. “A complete and generous education fits a man to perform justly, skillfully, and magnanimously all the offices, both public and private, of peace and war.”

— John Milton

263. “These two imparadised in one another’s arms, the happier Eden, shall enjoy their fill of bliss on bliss.”

— John Milton

264. “For evil news rides post, while good news baits.”

— John Milton

265. “The wife, where danger or dishonour lurks, Safest and seemliest by her husband stays, Who guards her, or with her the worst endures.”

— John Milton

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

— John Milton

267. “And ever against eating cares Lap me in soft Lydian airs, Married to immortal verse.”

— John Milton

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

— John Milton

269. “Bacchus, that first from out the purple grape Crush’d the sweet poison of misused wine.”

— John Milton

270. “Wisdom’s self oft seeks to sweet retired solitude, where with her best nurse Contemplation, she plumes her feathers, and lets grow her wings that in the various bustle of resort were all to-ruffled, and sometimes impaired.”

— John Milton

271. “O welcome pure-eyed Faith, white handed Hope, Thou hovering angel girt with golden wings.”

— John Milton

272. “License they mean when they cry Liberty; For who loves that, must first be wise and good.”

— John Milton

273. “The helmed Cherubim, And sworded Seraphim, Are seen in glittering ranks with wings display’d.”

— John Milton

274. “Some say no evil thing that walks by night, In fog or fire, by lake or moorish fen, Blue meagre hag, or stubborn unlaid ghost That breaks his magic chains at curfew time, No goblin, or swart fairy of the mine, Hath hurtful power o’er true virginity.”

— John Milton

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

— John Milton

276. “But his doom 54: Reserv’d him to more wrath; for now the thought 55: Both of lost happiness and lasting pain 56: Torments him; round he throws his baleful eyes 57: That witness’d huge affliction and dismay 58: Mixt with obdurate pride and stedfast hate:.”

— John Milton

277. “My sentence is for open war.”

— John Milton

278. “Tears such as angels weep.”

— John Milton

279. “With diadem and sceptre high advanced, The lower still I fall; only supreme In misery; such joy ambition finds.”

— John Milton

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

— John Milton

281. “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.”

— John Milton

282. “But now my task is smoothly done, I can fly, or I can run Quickly to the green earth’s end, Where the bow’d welkin slow doth bend, And from thence can soar as soon To the corners of the Moon.”

— John Milton

283. “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

284. “Fairy elves, Whose midnight revels by a forest side Or fountain some belated peasant sees, Or dreams he sees, while overhead the moon Sits arbitress.”

— John Milton

285. “It was the winter wild, While the Heaven-born child, All meanly wrapt in the rude manger lies.”

— John Milton

286. “Courage never to submit of yield.”

— John Milton

287. “Be strong, live happy and love, but first of all Him whom to love is to obey, and keep His great command!”

— John Milton

288. “For so I created them free and free they must remain.”

— John Milton

289. “Hail, wedded love, mysterious law; true source of human happiness.”

— John Milton

290. “How gladly would I meet mortality, my sentence, and be earth in sensible! How glad would lay me down, as in my mother’s lap! There I should rest, and sleep secure.”

— John Milton

291. “Meanwhile the Adversary of God and man, Satan with thoughts inflamed of highest design, Puts on swift wings, and towards the gates of hell Explores his solitary flight.”

— John Milton

292. “Therefore God’s universal law Gave to the man despotic power Over his female in due awe, Not from that right to part an hour, Smile she or lour.”

— John Milton

293. “How sweetly did they float upon the wings Of silence through the empty-vaulted night, At every fall smoothing the raven down Of darkness till it smiled!”

— John Milton

294. “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

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

— John Milton

296. “Those graceful acts, those thousand decencies, that daily flow from all her words and actions, mixed with love and sweet compliance, which declare unfeigned union of mind, or in us both one soul.”

— John Milton

297. “Govern well thy appetite, lest Sin surprise thee, and her black attendant Death.”

— John Milton

298. “So he with difficulty and labour hard Mov’d on, with difficulty and labour he.”

— John Milton

299. “Yet some there be that by due steps aspire To lay their just hands on that golden key That opes the palace of Eternity.”

— John Milton

300. “Where eldest Night And Chaos, ancestors of Nature, hold Eternal anarchy amidst the noise Of endless wars, and by confusion stand; For hot, cold, moist, and dry, four champions fierce, Strive here for mast’ry.”

— John Milton