WIST Quotations

Milton, John -- “L’Allegro,” l. 25ff (1645)

Dave — Thu, 07 Sep 2023 14:54:04 +0000

Haste thee, Nymph, and bring with thee
Jest, and youthful Jollity,
Quips, and Cranks, and wanton Wiles,
Nods, and Becks, and wreathed Smiles,
Such as hang on Hebe’s cheek,
And love to live in dimple sleek;
Sport that wrinkled Care derides,
And Laughter holding both his sides.

John Milton (1608-1674) English poet
“L’Allegro,” l. 25ff (1645)
(Source)

Milton, John -- “Lycidas,” l. 193 (1638)

Dave — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 13:04:16 +0000

To-morrow to fresh Woods, and Pastures new.

John Milton (1608-1674) English poet
“Lycidas,” l. 193 (1638)
(Source)

Milton, John -- (Attributed)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

Good, the more communicated, more abundant grows.

John Milton (1608-1674) English poet
(Attributed)

Milton, John -- A Mask Presented at Ludlow Castle, ll. 380-84 (1634)

Dave — Mon, 07 Feb 2022 16:12:20 +0000

He that has light within his own clear breast
May sit i’th center, and enjoy bright day,
But he that hides a dark soul, and foul thoughts
Benighted walks under the mid-day sun;
Himself is his own dungeon.

John Milton (1608-1674) English poet
A Mask Presented at Ludlow Castle, ll. 380-84 (1634)
(Source)

The title was changed to Comus for the 1737 stage version.

Milton, John -- An Apology for Smectymnuus (1642)

Dave — Mon, 16 May 2016 15:26:32 +0000

I will not deny but that the best apology against false accusers is silence and sufferance, and honest deeds set against dishonest words.

John Milton (1608-1674) English poet
An Apology for Smectymnuus (1642)
(Source)

Milton, John -- Areopagitica: a Speech for the Liberty of Unlicensed Printing to the Parliament of England (1644),

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

As good almost kill a man as kill a good book: who kills a man kills a reasonable creature, God’s image; but he who destroys a good book, kills reason itself, kills the image of God, as it were in the eye.

John Milton (1608-1674) English poet
Areopagitica: a Speech for the Liberty of Unlicensed Printing to the Parliament of England (1644),

Milton, John -- Areopagitica: a Speech for the Liberty of Unlicensed Printing (1644)

Dave — Tue, 14 Jun 2016 19:42:20 +0000

Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties.

John Milton (1608-1674) English poet
Areopagitica: a Speech for the Liberty of Unlicensed Printing (1644)
(Source)

Milton, John -- Areopagitica

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

Knowledge cannot defile, nor consequently the books, if the will and conscience be not defiled …. Wholesome meats to a vitiated stomach differ little or nothing from unwholesome; and best books to a naughty mind are not unappliable to occasions of evil.

John Milton (1608-1674) English poet
Areopagitica

Milton, John -- Areopagitica

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

A man may be heretic to the truth if he believes things only because his pastor says so, or the assembly so determines, without knowing other reason; though his belief be true, yet the very truth he holds becomes his heresy.

John Milton (1608-1674) English poet
Areopagitica

Milton, John -- Areopagitica (1644)

Dave — Thu, 17 Aug 2017 01:46:41 +0000

Truth is compar’d in Scripture to a streaming fountain; if her waters flow not in a perpetuall progression, they sick’n into a muddy pool of conformity and tradition.

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

John Milton (1608-1674) English poet
Areopagitica (1644)
(Source)

Milton, John -- Comus, l. 322ff (1634)

Dave — Tue, 21 Jun 2022 16:46:07 +0000

THE LADY: Shepherd I take thy word,
And trust thy honest offer’d courtesie,
Which oft is sooner found in lowly sheds
With smoaky rafters, then in tapstry Halls
And Courts of Princes, where it first was nam’d,
And yet is most pretended.

John Milton (1608-1674) English poet
Comus, l. 322ff (1634)
(Source)

Milton, John -- De Doctrina Cristana, Preface

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

It is only to the individual faith of each that the Deity has opened the way to salvation.

John Milton (1608-1674) English poet
De Doctrina Cristana, Preface

Milton, John -- Observations upon the Articles of Peace with the Irish Rebels (1649)

Dave — Wed, 17 Sep 2014 14:03:14 +0000

Just deeds are the best answer to injurious words.

John Milton (1608-1674) English poet
Observations upon the Articles of Peace with the Irish Rebels (1649)

Milton, John -- Paradise Lost, 1.254 (1667)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

The mind is its own place, and in itself
Can make a Heav’n of Hell, a Hell of Heav’n.

John Milton (1608-1674) English poet
Paradise Lost, 1.254 (1667)

Milton, John -- Paradise Lost, 1.648 (1667)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

Who overcomes
By force, hath overcome but half his foe.

John Milton (1608-1674) English poet
Paradise Lost, 1.648 (1667)

Milton, John -- Paradise Lost, 4.383 (1667)

Dave — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 13:54:51 +0000

So spake the Fiend, and with necessity,
The Tyrant’s plea, excus’d his devilish deeds.

John Milton (1608-1674) English poet
Paradise Lost, 4.383 (1667)

Milton, John -- Paradise Lost, 4.505 (1667)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

These two
Imparadis’d in one another’s arms.

John Milton (1608-1674) English poet
Paradise Lost, 4.505 (1667)

Milton, John -- Paradise Lost, 9.171 (1667)

Dave — Wed, 09 Oct 2013 12:19:25 +0000

Revenge, at first though sweet,
Bitter ere long, back on itself recoils.

John Milton (1608-1674) English poet
Paradise Lost, 9.171 (1667)

Milton, John -- Paradise Lost, Book 2, l. 432ff (1667)

Dave — Wed, 12 Oct 2022 18:31:52 +0000

Long is the way
And hard, that out of Hell leads up to Light.

John Milton (1608-1674) English poet
Paradise Lost, Book 2, l. 432ff (1667)
(Source)

See Virgil.

Milton, John -- Tetrachordon

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

Loneliness is the first thing which God’s eye nam’d not good.

John Milton (1608-1674) English poet
Tetrachordon

Milton, John -- Tractate on Education (1673)

Dave — Tue, 13 May 2025 15:55:45 +0000

But here the main skill and ground-work will be, to temper them such lectures and explanations upon every opportunity as may lead and draw them in willing obedience, inflamed with the study of learning, and the admiration of virtue; stirred up with high hopes of living to be brave men, and worthy patriots, dear to God, and famous to all ages.

John Milton (1608-1674) English poet
Tractate on Education (1673)
(Source)