Paradise Lost

Paradise Lost (1667, 1674) is an epic poem by the 17th century English poet John Milton. The poem concerns the Christian story of the fall of Satan and his brethren and the rise of Man: the temptation of Adam and Eve by Satan and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden.

Note that chapter and line references correspond with the 1674 version of the text, available online here.

Book I
Of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste Brought death into the world, and all our woe, With loss of Eden, till one greater Man Restore us, and regain the blissful Seat,'''
 * '''Of Man's first disobedience, and the fruit
 * Lines 1-5

Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire That Shepherd, who first taught the chosen Seed, In the Beginning how the Heav'ns and Earth Rose out of Chaos: Or if Sion Hill Delight thee more, and Siloa's Brook that flow'd Fast by the Oracle of God; I thence Invoke thy aid to my adventrous Song, That with no middle flight intends to soar Above th' Aonian Mount, while it pursues Things unattempted yet in Prose or Rhime.
 * Sing Heav'nly Muse, that on the secret top
 * Lines 6-16

Illumine, what is low raise and support; That to the height of this great argument I may assert eternal Providence, And justify the ways of God to men.
 * What in me is dark
 * Lines 22-26. Compare: "But vindicate the ways of God to man", Alexander Pope, Essay on Man, epistle i. line 16

Stirred up with envy and revenge, deceived The mother of mankind.
 * The infernal serpent; he it was, whose guile,
 * Lines 34-36

Hurled headlong flaming from th' ethereal sky With hideous ruin and combustion down To bottomless perdition, there to dwell In adamantine chains and penal fire, Who durst defy th' Omnipotent to arms.
 * Him the Almighty Power
 * Lines 44-49


 * As far as angels' ken.
 * Line 59

No light, but rather darkness visible.
 * Yet from those flames
 * Lines 62-63

And rest can never dwell, hope never comes That comes at all.
 * Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace
 * Lines 65-67

All is not lost; th’ unconquerable will, And study of revenge, immortal hate, And courage never to submit or yield.
 * What though the field be lost?


 * Lines 105-108

Doing or suffering.
 * To be weak is miserable,
 * Lines 157-158


 * And out of good still to find means of evil.
 * Line 165

With head uplift above the wave, and eyes That sparkling blazed; his other parts besides Prone on the flood, extended long and large '''Lay floating many a rood, in bulk as huge As whom the fables name of monstrous size, Titanian, or Earth-born, that warred on Jove, Briareos or Typhon, whom the den By ancient Tarsus held, or that sea-beast Leviathan, which God created of all his works Created hugest that swim th' Ocean stream.'''
 * Thus Satan talking to his nearest mate
 * Lines 192-202

Where joy forever dwells: hail, horrors!
 * Farewell happy fields,
 * Line 249

'''The mind is its own place, and in itself Can make a heav'n of hell, a hell of heav'n.'''
 * A mind not to be changed by place or time.
 * Lines 253-55. See also Book IV, line 75

we shall be free; the Almighty hath not built Here for his envy, will not drive us hence: Here we may reign secure, and in my choice to reign is worth ambition though in Hell: Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven.
 * […] Here at least
 * Lines 258-63

In worst extremes, and on the perilous edge Of battle.
 * Heard so oft
 * Line 275

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.
 * His spear, to equal which the tallest pine
 * Line 292

In Vallombrosa, where th' Etrurian shades High over-arch'd imbower.
 * Thick as autumnal leaves that strow the brooks
 * Line 302


 * Awake, arise, or be for ever fall'n.
 * Line 330

Can either sex assume, or both.
 * Spirits when they please
 * Line 423


 * Execute their airy purposes.
 * Line 430

Darkens the streets, then wander forth the sons Of Belial, flown with insolence and wine.
 * And, when night
 * Lines 500-502

Shone like a meteor, streaming to the wind.
 * Th' imperial ensign, which full high advanc'd
 * Line 536. Compare: "Stream'd like a meteor to the troubled air", Thomas Gray, The Bard, i. 2, line 6.

At which the universal host up sent A shout that tore hell's concave, and beyond Frighted the reign of Chaos and old Night.
 * Sonorous metal blowing martial sounds:
 * Lines 540-543

In perfect phalanx, to the Dorian mood Of flutes and soft recorders.
 * Anon they move
 * Line 549

All her original brightness, nor appear'd Less than archangel ruin'd, and th' excess Of glory obscur'd.
 * His form had yet not lost
 * Line 591

On half the nations, and with fear of change Perplexes monarchs.
 * In dim eclipse, disastrous twilight sheds
 * Line 597

Tears, such as angels weep, burst forth.
 * Thrice he assay'd, and thrice in spite of scorn
 * Line 619

That all these puissant legions, whose exile Hath emptied Heaven, shall fail to re-ascend, Self-raised, and repossess their native seat?
 * For who can yet believe, though after loss,
 * Lines 631-34

By force, hath overcome but half his foe.'''
 * '''Who overcomes
 * Lines 648-49

From heaven; for ev’n in heaven his looks and thoughts Were always downward bent, admiring more The riches of heaven’s pavement, trodden gold, Than aught divine or holy else enjoy’d In vision beatific.
 * Mammon, the least erected spirit that fell
 * Lines 679-84

That riches grow in hell; that soil may best Deserve the precious bane.
 * Let none admire
 * Lines 690-692

Rose, like an exhalation.
 * Anon out of the earth a fabric huge
 * Line 710

To noon he fell, from noon to dewy eve, A summer's day; and with the setting sun Dropped from the zenith like a falling star.
 * From morn
 * Lines 742-745

Whose midnight revels by a forest side Or fountain some belated peasant sees, Or dreams he sees, while overhead the moon Sits arbitress.
 * Fairy elves,
 * Line 781

Book II
Outshone the wealth of Ormus and of Ind, Or where the gorgeous East with richest hand Showers on her kings barbaric pearl and gold, Satan exalted sat, by merit raised To that bad eminence; and from despair Thus high uplifted beyond hope, aspires Beyond thus high, insatiate to pursue Vain war with heav'n.
 * High on a throne of royal state, which far
 * Lines 1-9

Could have assur'd us.
 * Surer to prosper than prosperity
 * Line 39

That fought in heaven, now fiercer by despair.
 * The strongest and the fiercest spirit
 * Line 44

Cared not to be at all.
 * Rather than be less
 * Lines 47-48

More unexpert, I boast not: them let those Contrive who need, or when they need, not now. For while they sit contriving, shall the rest, Millions that stand in Arms, and longing wait The Signal to ascend, sit ling'ring here, Heav'n's fugitives, and for their dwelling place Accept this dark opprobrious Den of shame, The Prison of his Tyranny who Reigns By our delay? no, let us rather choose, Arm'd with Hell flames and fury all at once O'er Heaven's high Tow'rs to force resistless way, Turning our Tortures into horrid Arms Against the Torturer.
 * My sentence is for open War; Of Wiles,
 * Lines 51-64

Up to our native seat: descent and fall To us is adverse.
 * That in our proper motion we ascend
 * Line 75

Inexorable and the torturing hour Call us to penance.
 * When the scourge
 * Line 90


 * Which, if not victory, is yet revenge.
 * Line 105

Dropp'd manna, and could make the worse appear The better reason, to perplex and dash Maturest counsels.
 * But all was false and hollow; though his tongue
 * Lines 112-114. Compare: "Aristophanes turns Socrates into ridicule…as making the worse appear the better reason", Diogenes Laërtius, Socrates, v

Incapable of stain would soon expel Her mischief, and purge off the baser fire, Victorious. Thus repulsed, our final hope Is flat despair: we must exasperate Th' Almighty Victor to spend all his rage; And that must end us; that must be our cure-- To be no more. Sad cure! for who would lose, Though full of pain, this intellectual being, Those thoughts that wander through eternity, To perish rather, swallowed up and lost In the wide womb of uncreated Night, Devoid of sense and motion?
 * Th' ethereal mould
 * Lines 142-51. Compare: "Our hope is loss, our hope but sad despair", William Shakespeare, Henry VI. part iii. act ii, scene. 3


 * His red right hand.
 * Line 174; compare: "Rubente dextera", Horace, Ode i, 2, 2


 * Unrespited, unpitied, unrepriev'd.
 * Line 185

Of future days.
 * The never-ending flight
 * Line 221

Counseled ignoble ease, and peaceful sloth, Not peace.
 * Thus Belial with words clothed in reason's garb
 * Lines 226-228

Become our elements.
 * Our torments also may in length of time
 * Line 274

Aspect he rose, and in his rising seemed A pillar of state; deep on his front engraven Deliberation sat and public care; And princely counsel in his face yet shone, Majestic though in ruin: sage he stood, With Atlantean shoulders, fit to bear The weight of mightiest monarchies; his look Drew audience and attention still as night Or summer's noontide air.
 * With grave
 * Lines 300-305

Hatching vain empires.
 * To sit in darkness here
 * Lines 377-378


 * The palpable obscure.
 * Line 406

And hard, that out of Hell leads up to Light.'''
 * '''Long is the way
 * Lines 432-33.
 * Compare: "'[...]facilis descensus Averno: noctes atque dies patet atri ianua Ditis; sed revocare gradum superasque evadere ad auras, hoc opus, hic labor est.'" Virgil, Aeneid, vi. 126. ("The gates of hell are open night and day; Smooth the descent, and easy is the way: But to return, and view the cheerful skies, In this the task and mighty labor lies." —Dryden.)

Of thunder heard remote.
 * Their rising all at once was as the sound
 * Lines 476-477

Scowls o'er the darken'd landscape.
 * The low'ring element
 * Line 490

Firm concord holds, men only disagree Of creatures rational.
 * Oh, shame to men! devil with devil damn'd
 * Line 496

For eloquence the soul, song charms the sense. Others apart sat on a hill retired, In thoughts more elevate, and reasoned high Of Providence, foreknowledge, will, and fate, Fixed fate, free will, foreknowledge absolute, And found no end, in wand'ring mazes lost.
 * In discourse more sweet;
 * Lines 555-561


 * Vain wisdom all and false philosophy.
 * Line 565

With stubborn patience as with triple steel.
 * Arm th' obdur'd breast
 * Line 568

Betwixt Damiata and Mount Casius old, Where armies whole have sunk: the parching air Burns frore, and cold performs th' effect of fire. Thither by harpy-footed Furies hal'd, At certain revolutions all the damn'd Are brought, and feel by turns the bitter change Of fierce extremes,—extremes by change more fierce; From beds of raging fire to starve in ice Their soft ethereal warmth, and there to pine Immovable, infix'd, and frozen round, Periods of time; thence hurried back to fire.
 * A gulf profound as that Serbonian bog
 * Lines 597-603

Rocks, caves, lakes, fens, bogs, dens, and shades of death.
 * O'er many a frozen, many a fiery Alp,
 * Line 620


 * Gorgons and Hydras and Chimæras dire.
 * Line 628

If shape it might be call'd that shape had none Distinguishable in member, joint, or limb; Or substance might be call'd that shadow seem'd, For each seem'd either,—black it stood as night, Fierce as ten furies, terrible as hell, And shook a dreadful dart; what seem'd his head The likeness of a kingly crown had on. Satan was now at hand.
 * The other shape,
 * Line 666


 * Whence and what art thou, execrable shape?
 * Line 681

False fugitive, and to thy speed add wings.
 * Back to thy punishment,
 * Line 699


 * So spake the grisly Terror.
 * Line 704

Unterrify'd, and like a comet burn'd That fires the length of Ophiuchus huge In th' arctic sky, and from his horrid hair Shakes pestilence and war.
 * Incens'd with indignation Satan stood
 * Line 707

No second stroke intend.
 * Their fatal hands
 * Line 712

Grew darker at their frown.
 * Hell
 * Line 719

Hell trembled at the hideous name, and sigh'd From all her caves, and back resounded, DEATH!
 * I fled, and cry'd out, DEATH!
 * Line 787

Grim Death, my son and foe.
 * Before mine eyes in opposition sits
 * Lines 803-804

Grinn'd horrible a ghastly smile, to hear His famine should be fill'd.
 * Death
 * Line 845

With impetuous recoil and jarring sound, Th' infernal doors, and on their hinges grate Harsh thunder.
 * On a sudden open fly,
 * Line 879

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.
 * Where eldest Night
 * Lines 894-899

The Womb of nature and perhaps her Grave, Of neither Sea, nor Shore, nor Air, nor Fire, But all these in thir pregnant causes mixt Confus'dly, and which thus must ever fight, Unless th' Almighty Maker them ordain His dark materials to create more Worlds, Into this wilde Abyss the warie fiend Stood on the brink of Hell and look'd a while, Pondering his Voyage.
 * Into this wilde Abyss,
 * Lines 910-919

Great things with small.
 * To compare
 * Line 921; compare: "Compare great things with small", Virgil, Eclogues, i. 24; Georgics, iv. 176; Abraham Cowley, The Motto; John Dryden, Ovid, Metamorphoses, book i. line 727; Thomas Tickell, Poem on Hunting; Alexander Pope, Windsor Forest.

With head, hands, wings, or feet, pursues his way, And swims or sinks, or wades, or creeps, or flies.
 * O'er bog or steep, through strait, rough, dense, or rare,
 * Line 948

Confusion worse confounded.
 * With ruin upon ruin, rout on rout,
 * Lines 995-996

Mov'd on, with difficulty and labour he.
 * So he with difficulty and labour hard
 * Line 1021

This pendent world, in bigness as a star Of smallest magnitude, close by the moon.
 * And fast by, hanging in a golden chain,
 * Line 1051

Book III

 * Hail, holy light! offspring of heav'n first born.
 * Line 1


 * The rising world of waters dark and deep.
 * Line 11

Harmonious numbers.
 * Thoughts that voluntary move
 * Line 37

Seasons return; but not to me returns Day, or the sweet approach of ev'n or morn, Or sight of vernal bloom, or summer's rose, Or flocks, or herds, or human face divine; But cloud instead, and ever-during dark Surrounds me, from the cheerful ways of men Cut off, and for the book of knowledge fair Presented with a universal blank Of Nature's works to me expunged and razed, And wisdom at one entrance quite shut out.
 * Thus with the year
 * Lines 40-50

Sufficient to have stood, though free to fall.
 * I made him just and right,
 * Lines 98-99

With joy and love triumphing.
 * Golden days, fruitful of golden deeds,
 * Line 337


 * Dark with excessive bright.
 * Line 380

White, black, and gray, with all their trumpery.
 * Embryos and idiots, eremites and friars,
 * Line 474

The Paradise of Fools, to few unknown.
 * Into a limbo large and broad, since call'd
 * Lines 495-496

Hypocrisy, the only evil that walks Invisible
 * Neither man nor angel can discern
 * Lines 682-684

At wisdom's gate, and to simplicity Resigns her charge, while goodness thinks no ill Where no ill seems.
 * And oft, though wisdom wake, suspicion sleeps
 * Line 686

Book IV


The Tempter ere th’ Accuser of man-kind, To wreck on innocent frail man his loss Of that first Battel, and his flight to Hell: Yet not rejoycing in his speed, though bold, Far off and fearless, nor with cause to boast, Begins his dire attempt, which nigh the birth Now rowling, boiles in his tumultuous brest, And like a devillish Engine back recoiles Upon himself; horror and doubt distract His troubl’d thoughts, and from the bottom stirr The Hell within him, for within him Hell He brings, and round about him, nor from Hell One step no more then from himself can fly By change of place: '''Now conscience wakes despair That slumberd, wakes the bitter memorie Of what he was, what is, and what must be Worse; of worse deeds worse sufferings must ensue.'''
 * Satan, now first inflam’d with rage, came down,
 * Lines 8 - 23

Hide their diminish'd heads.
 * At whose sight all the stars
 * Line 34; compare: "Ye little stars! hide our diminished rays", Alexander Pope, Moral Essays, Epistle iii, line 282.

By owing owes not, but still pays, at once Indebted and discharg'd.
 * A grateful mind
 * Line 55

Infinite wrath and infinite despair? Which way I fly is hell; myself am hell'''; And in the lowest deep a lower deep, Still threat’ning to devour me, opens wide, To which the hell I suffer seems a heaven.
 * '''Me miserable! which way shall I fly
 * Lines 73-78

While they adore me on the Throne of Hell, With Diadem and Scepter high advanc’d The lower still I fall, onely Supream In miserie; such joy Ambition findes.''' But say I could repent and could obtaine By Act of Grace my former state; how soon Would highth recal high thoughts, how soon unsay What feign’d submission swore: ease would recant Vows made in pain, as violent and void. For never can true reconcilement grow Where wounds of deadly hate have peirc’d so deep: Which would but lead me to a worse relapse And heavier fall: so should I purchase deare Short intermission bought with double smart. This knows my punisher; therefore as farr From granting hee, as I from begging peace: All hope excluded thus, behold in stead Of us out-cast, exil'd, his new delight, Mankind created, and for him this World.
 * '''Under what torments inwardly I groane;
 * Lines 88 - 107

Farewel Remorse: all Good to me is lost; Evil be thou my Good'''; by thee at least Divided Empire with Heav'ns King I hold By thee, and more then half perhaps will reigne; As Man ere long, and this new World shall know.
 * '''So farewel Hope, and with Hope farewel Fear,
 * Lines 108-113

Deep malice to conceal, couch'd with revenge.
 * That practis'd falsehood under saintly shew,
 * Line 122

Of Araby the Blest.
 * Sabean odours from the spicy shore
 * Line 162

The middle tree and highest there that grew, Sat like a cormorant.
 * And on the Tree of Life,
 * Lines 194-196


 * A heaven on earth.
 * Line 208


 * Flowers worthy of paradise.
 * Line 241


 * Flowers of all hue, and without thorn the rose.
 * Line 256. Compare: "But ne'er the rose without the thorn", Robert Herrick, The Rose

Herself a fairer flower.
 * Proserpine gathering flowers,
 * Line 269

Godlike erect, with native honor clad In naked majesty seemed lords of all.
 * Two of far nobler shape erect and tall,
 * Lines 288-290

For softness she and sweet attractive grace; He for God only, she for God in him. His fair large front and eye sublime declar'd Absolute rule; and hyacinthine locks Round from his parted forelock manly hung Clustering, but not beneath his shoulders broad.
 * For contemplation he and valor formed,
 * Lines 297-303

Subjection, but required with gentle sway, And by her yielded, by him best received, Yielded with coy submission, modest pride, And sweet reluctant amorous delay.
 * Implied
 * Lines 307-311

His sons, the fairest of her daughters Eve.
 * Adam the goodliest man of men since born
 * Lines 323-324

The tyrant's plea, excused his devilish deeds.
 * So spake the Fiend, and with necessity,
 * Lines 393-394. Compare: "Necessity is the argument of tyrants, it is the creed of slaves", William Pitt the Younger, Speech on the India Bill, November, 1783

On Juno smiles, when he impregns the clouds That shed May flowers.
 * As Jupiter
 * Line 499


 * Imparadis'd in one another's arms.
 * Line 506

Yet happy pair.
 * Live while ye may,
 * Line 533

Suspicious, reasonless. Why should thir Lord Envie them that? can it be sin to know, Can it be death? and do they onely stand By Ignorance, is that thir happie state, The proof of thir obedience and thir faith? O fair foundation laid whereon to build Thir ruine! Hence I will excite thir minds With more desire to know, and to reject Envious commands, invented with designe To keep them low whom knowledge might exalt Equal with Gods; aspiring to be such, They taste and die: what likelier can ensue?
 * Knowledge forbidd'n?
 * Line 515-527

Had in her sober livery all things clad'''; Silence accompany'd; for beast and bird, They to their grassy couch, these to their nests, Were slunk, all but the wakeful nightingale; She all night long her amorous descant sung; Silence was pleas'd. Now glow'd the firmament With living sapphires; Hesperus, that led The starry host, rode brightest, till the moon, Rising in clouded majesty, at length Apparent queen unveil'd her peerless light, And o'er the dark her silver mantle threw.
 * '''Now came still evening on, and twilight gray
 * Line 598

She all night long her amorous descant sung; Silence was pleased: now glowed the firmament With living sapphires: Hesperus, that led The starry host, rode brightest, till the moon, Rising in clouded majesty, at length Apparent queen unveiled her peerless light, And o'er the dark her silver mantle threw.
 * The wakeful nightingale,
 * Lines 602-609


 * The timely dew of sleep.
 * Line 614

All seasons, and their change; all please alike. Sweet is the breath of morn, her rising sweet, With charm of earliest birds; pleasant the sun When first on this delightful land he spreads His orient beams on herb, tree, fruit, and flower, Glist'ring with dew; fragrant the fertile earth After soft showers; and sweet the coming on Of grateful ev'ning mild; then silent night With this her solemn bird and this fair moon, And these the gems of heaven, her starry train: But neither breath of morn when she ascends With charm of earliest birds, nor rising sun On this delightful land, nor herb, fruit, flower, Glist'ring with dew, nor fragrance after showers, Nor grateful ev'ning mild, nor silent night With this her solemn bird, nor walk by moon Or glittering starlight, without thee is sweet.
 * With thee conversing I forget all time,
 * Lines 639-656

Unseen, both when we wake, and when we sleep.
 * Millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth
 * Lines 677-678

More lovely than Pandora.
 * In naked beauty more adorn'd,
 * Line 713. Compare: "When unadorned, adorned the most", James Thomson, Autumn, line 204

These troublesome disguises which we wear.
 * Eased the putting off
 * Lines 739-740

Of human offspring.
 * Hail wedded love, mysterious law, true source
 * Lines 750-751


 * Squat like a toad, close at the ear of Eve.
 * Line 800

Touch'd lightly; for no falsehood can endure Touch of celestial temper.
 * Him thus intent Ithuriel with his spear
 * Line 810

The lowest of your throng.
 * Not to know me argues yourselves unknown,
 * Line 830

And felt how awful goodness is, and saw Virtue in her shape how lovely. —saw, and pined his loss.'''
 * '''Abashed the Devil stood,
 * Lines 846-848


 * Came not all hell broke loose?
 * Line 918


 * Like Teneriff or Atlas unremoved.
 * Line 987

Of heaven.
 * The starry cope
 * Line 992

Murmuring, and with him fled the shades of night.
 * Fled
 * Line 1014

Book V
Advancing, sow'd the earth with orient pearl, When Adam wak'd, so custom'd; for his sleep Was aery light, from pure digestion bred.
 * Now morn, her rosy steps in th' eastern clime
 * Line 1

Beauty, which, whether waking or asleep, Shot forth peculiar graces.
 * Hung over her enamour'd, and beheld
 * Line 13

Heaven's last, best gift, my ever new delight!
 * My latest found,
 * Line 18

Communicated, more abundant grows.'''
 * '''Good, the more
 * Lines 71-72.


 * These are thy glorious works, Parent of good.
 * Line 153


 * Him first, him last, him midst, and without end.
 * Line 165

If better thou belong not to the dawn.
 * Fairest of stars, last in the train of night,
 * Line 166

Melodious murmurs, warbling tune his praise.
 * Fountains, and ye, that warble, as ye flow,
 * Line 195


 * A wilderness of sweets.
 * Line 294

Ris'n on mid-noon.
 * Another morn
 * Line 310

She turns, on hospitable thoughts intent.
 * So saying, with dispatchful looks in haste
 * Lines 331-332

Was understood, the injured lover's hell.
 * Nor jealousy
 * Lines 449-450


 * The bright consummate flower.
 * Line 481

Because we freely love, as in our will To love or not; in this we stand or fall.'''
 * '''Freely we serve,
 * Lines 538-540

Be but the shadow of heaven, and things therein Each to other like, more than on earth is thought?
 * What if earth
 * Lines 574-576


 * Thrones, Dominations, Princedoms, Virtues, Powers.
 * Line 601


 * All seemed well pleased, all seemed but were not all.
 * Line 617

Quaff immortality and joy.
 * They eat, they drink, and in communion sweet
 * Line 637

Is heard no more in heaven.
 * Satan; so call him now, his former name
 * Line 658

Friendliest to sleep and silence.
 * Midnight brought on the dusky hour
 * Line 667

Or stars of morning, dewdrops which the sun Impearls on every leaf and every flower.
 * Innumerable as the stars of night,
 * Line 745

The supple knee? ye will not, if I trust To know ye right, or if ye know your selves Natives and Sons of Heav'n possest before By none, and if not equal all, yet free, Equally free; for Orders and Degrees Jarr not with liberty, but well consist. Who can in reason then or right assume Monarchie over such as live by right...
 * Will ye submit your necks, and chuse to bend
 * Line 787

Among the faithless, faithful only he.
 * So spake the seraph Abdiel, faithful found;
 * Line 896-897

Book VI
Waked by the circling hours, with rosy hand Unbarred the gates of light.
 * Morn,
 * Lines 2-4

The better fight, who single hast maintained Against revolted multitudes the cause Of truth, in word mightier than they in arms.
 * Servant of God, well done, well hast thou fought
 * Lines 29-32


 * How few somtimes may know, when thousands err.
 * Line 148

Horrible discord, and the madding wheels Of brazen chariots rag'd: dire was the noise Of conflict.
 * Arms on armour clashing bray'd
 * Line 209

Vital in every part, not as frail man, In entrails, heart or head, liver or reins, Cannot but by annihilating die.
 * Spirits that live throughout,
 * Line 345


 * Far off his coming shone.
 * Line 768


 * In heavenly spirits could such perverseness dwell?
 * Line 788; compare: "Tantaene animis coelestibus irae?", Virgil, Aeneid, i. 16

Book VII
To hoarse or mute, though fall'n, and evil tongues; In darkness, and with dangers compassed round, And solitude.
 * More safe I sing with mortal voice, unchanged
 * Lines 24-28

Urania, and fit audience find, though few.
 * Still govern thou my song,
 * Line 30

Of men innumerable.
 * Out of one man a race
 * Lines 155-156

Her ever during gates, harmonious sound, On golden hinges moving.
 * Heaven open'd wide
 * Line 205

They view'd the vast immeasurable Abyss Outrageous as a Sea, dark, wasteful, wilde, Up from the bottom turn'd by furious windes And surging waves, as Mountains to assault Heav'ns highth, and with the Center mix the Pole. "Silence, ye troubl'd waves, and thou Deep, peace!" Said then th' Omnific Word, "Your discord end!" Nor staid, but on the Wings of Cherubim Uplifted, in Paternal Glorie rode Farr into Chaos, and the World unborn; For Chaos heard his voice: him all his Traine Follow'd in bright procession to behold Creation, and the wonders of his might. Then staid the fervid Wheeles, and in his hand He took the golden Compasses, prepar'd In Gods Eternal store, to circumscribe This Universe, and all created things: One foot he center'd, and the other turn'd Round through the vast profunditie obscure, And said, "Thus farr extend, thus farr thy bounds, This be thy just Circumference, O World!"
 * On heav'nly ground they stood, and from the shore
 * Lines 210–231

Repairing, in their golden urns draw light.
 * Hither, as to their fountain, other stars
 * Line 364

Hugest of living creatures, on the deep Stretched like a promontory sleeps or swims, And seems a moving land, and at his gills Draws in, and at his trunk spouts out a sea.
 * There Leviathan
 * Lines 412-416

The tawny lion, pawing to get free His hinder parts.
 * Now half appear'd
 * Line 463

With sanctity of reason.
 * Indu'd
 * Line 507

While the bright pomp ascended jubilant. Open, ye everlasting gates, they sung, Open ye heavens, your living doors; let in The great Creator from his work returned Magnificent, his six days' work, a world.
 * The planets in their stations list'ning stood,
 * Line 563-568

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.
 * A broad and ample road, whose dust is gold,
 * Line 577

Book VIII
So charming left his voice that he awhile Thought him still speaking, still stood fixed to hear.
 * The angel ended, and in Adam's ear
 * Lines 1-3

Diurnal, merely to officiate light Round this opacous earth, this punctual spot.
 * There swift return
 * Line 21


 * And grace that won who saw to wish her stay.
 * Line 43


 * And touch'd by her fair tendance, gladlier grew.
 * Line 47

Cycle and epicycle, orb in orb.
 * With centric and eccentric scribbled o'er,
 * Line 83

With inoffensive pace, that spinning sleeps On her soft axle.
 * Her silent course advance
 * Line 163

Think only what concerns thee and thy being.
 * Be lowly wise:
 * Line 173

That which before us lies in daily life Is the prime wisdom.
 * To know
 * Lines 192-194


 * Liquid lapse of murmuring streams.
 * Line 263


 * And feel that I am happier than I know.
 * Line 282

Can sort, what harmony, or true delight?
 * Among unequals what society
 * Line 383

In every gesture dignity and love.'''
 * '''Grace was in all her steps, heaven in her eye,
 * Lines 488-89

That would be wooed, and not unsought be won.
 * Her virtue and the conscience of her worth,
 * Lines 502-503

And with obsequious majesty approv'd My pleaded reason. To the nuptial bower I led her blushing like the morn; all heaven And happy constellations on that hour Shed their selectest influence; the earth Gave sign of gratulation, and each hill; Joyous the birds; fresh gales and gentle airs Whisper'd it to the woods, and from their wings Flung rose, flung odours from the spicy shrub.
 * She what was honour knew,
 * Line 508


 * The sum of earthly bliss.
 * Line 522

And in herself complete, so well to know Her own, that what she wills to do or say, Seems wisest, virtuousest, discreetest, best.
 * So absolute she seems
 * Lines 547-550

Do thou but thine.
 * Accuse not Nature: she hath done her part;
 * Lines 561-62

Than self-esteem, grounded on just and right Well managed.
 * Ofttimes nothing profits more
 * Lines 571-573. Compare: "But most of all respect thyself", a precept of the Pythagoreans, attributed to Pythagoras.

Those thousand decencies that daily flow From all her words and actions.
 * Those graceful acts,
 * Line 610

Celestial rosy red, love's proper hue.
 * With a smile that glow'd
 * Line 618

Book IX

 * My unpremeditated verse.
 * Line 24


 * Pleas'd me, long choosing and beginning late.
 * Line 26

Warrs, hitherto the onely Argument Heroic deem'd, chief maistrie to dissect With long and tedious havoc fabl'd Knights In Battels feign'd; the better fortitude Of Patience and Heroic Martyrdom Unsung
 * Not sedulous by Nature to indite
 * Lines 27-33

Climate, or years, damp my intended wing.
 * Unless an age too late, or cold
 * Line 44


 * The serpent subtlest beast of all the field.
 * Line 86

Bitter ere long back on itself recoils.
 * Revenge, at first though sweet,
 * Lines 171-72

Luxurious by restraint.
 * The work under our labour grows,
 * Line 208

To brute deny'd, and are of love the food.
 * Smiles from reason flow,
 * Line 239

And short retirement urges sweet return.
 * For solitude sometimes is best society,
 * Lines 249-250


 * At shut of evening flowers.
 * Line 278

On what thou hast of virtue; summon all! For God towards thee hath done his part, do thine.
 * Go in thy native innocence, rely
 * Lines 373–375

Where houses thick and sewers annoy the air.
 * As one who long in populous city pent,
 * Line 445


 * So gloz'd the tempter.
 * Line 549

Brightens his crest.
 * Hope elevates, and joy
 * Line 633

Sole daughter of his voice; the rest, we live Law to ourselves, our reason is our law.
 * God so commanded, and left that command
 * Lines 652-654. Compare: "Stern daughter of the voice of God", William Wordsworth, Ode to Duty

Forth reaching to the fruit, she plucked, she eat: Earth felt the wound, and Nature from her seat, Sighing through all her works, gave signs of woe That all was lost.
 * Her rash hand in evil hour
 * Lines 780-784

I could endure, without him live no life.
 * So dear I love him, that with him all deaths
 * Lines 832-833

Came prologue, and apology too prompt.
 * In her face excuse
 * Line 853-854

Of all God's works! creature in whom excelled Whatever can to sight or thought be formed, Holy, divine, good, amiable, or sweet! How art thou lost, how on a sudden lost, Defaced, deflowered, and now to Death devote?
 * O fairest of creation! last and best
 * Lines 896-901

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.
 * I feel
 * Lines 913-916

One flesh; to lose thee were to lose myself.
 * Our state cannot be severed; we are one,
 * Lines 958-959

High overarch'd, and echoing walks between.
 * A pillar'd shade
 * Line 1106

Book X
Justice with mercy.
 * I shall temper so
 * Lines 77-78

His nostril wide into the murky air, Sagacious of his quarry from so far.
 * So scented the grim Feature, and upturn'd
 * Line 279

Of Lucifer.
 * Pandemonium, city and proud seat
 * Lines 424-425

Of public scorn.
 * A dismal universal hiss, the sound
 * Lines 508-509


 * Death...on his pale horse.
 * Line 588

To mould Me man? Did I solicit thee From darkness to promote me?
 * Did I request thee, Maker, from my clay
 * Lines 743-745

Mortality my sentence, and be earth Insensible! how glad would lay me down As in my mother's lap!
 * How gladly would I meet
 * Line 775

Book XI
Thee, native soil, these happy walks and shades?
 * Must I thus leave thee, Paradise?—thus leave
 * Line 269

The visual nerve, for he had much to see.
 * Then purg'd with euphrasy and rue
 * Line 414

And moon-struck madness.
 * Moping melancholy
 * Line 485

Shook, but delay'd to strike, though oft invok'd.
 * And over them triumphant Death his dart
 * Line 491

Into thy mother's lap.
 * So may'st thou live, till like ripe fruit thou drop
 * Line 535

Live well; how long or short permit to Heaven.'''
 * '''Nor love thy life, nor hate; but what thou liv'st
 * Lines 553-554; compare: "Summum nec metuas diem, nec optes" (Translated: "Neither fear nor wish for your last day"), Martial, lib. x. epigram 47, line 13


 * A bevy of fair women.
 * Line 582

Love's harbinger.
 * The evening star,
 * Lines 588-589


 * The brazen throat of war.
 * Line 713

Peace to corrupt no less than war to waste.
 * For now I see
 * Line 783-784

Book XII
Is to stay here; without thee here to stay, Is to go hence unwilling; thou to me Art all things under heaven, all places thou, Who for my willful crime art banished hence.
 * In me is no delay; with thee to go,
 * Lines 615-619

The world was all before them, where to choose Their place of rest, and Providence their guide: They hand in hand with wand'ring steps and slow Through Eden took their solitary way.
 * Some natural tears they dropp'd, but wip'd them soon;
 * Lines 645-649

Quotes about Paradise Lost

 * Sorted alphabetically by author or source


 * The most important work of Milton is Paradise Lost; his best work is Lycidas.
 * G. K. Chesterton, George Bernard Shaw (1909), p. 204


 * A poem which, considered with respect to design, may claim the first place, and with respect to performance the second, among the productions of the human mind.
 * Samuel Johnson, "The Life of Milton" in Lives of the English Poets (1781)


 * The characteristic quality of [Milton's] poem is sublimity. He sometimes descends to the elegant, but his element is the great. He can occasionally invest himself with grace; but his natural port is gigantic loftiness. He can please when pleasure is required; but it is his peculiar power to astonish.
 * Samuel Johnson, "The Life of Milton"


 * The want of human interest is always felt. 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. Its perusal is a duty rather than a pleasure. We read Milton for instruction, retire harassed and overburdened, and look elsewhere for recreation; we desert our master, and seek for companions.
 * Samuel Johnson, "The Life of Milton"


 * When I was seven, I had to copy, by hand, as a punishment, books one and two of Paradise Lost. By that time, I had already started to think of myself as rebellious, so of course I completely identified with Lucifer.
 * Jamaica Kincaid Interview with The Paris Review (2022)


 * A prerogative place among the great epics of the world has sometimes been claimed for Paradise Lost, on the ground that the theme it handles is vaster and of a more universal human interest than any handled by Milton's predecessors. It concerns itself with the fortunes, not of a city or an empire, but of the whole human race, and with that particular event in the history of the race which has moulded all its destinies.
 * Walter Raleigh, Milton (1900), p. 81