Here are the 55 best handpicked quotes from “Paradise Lost” by John Milton:
From “Our torments also may in length of time become our elements.” to “I formed them free, and free they must remain.”
So if you want the best quotes from “Paradise Lost,” then you’re in the right place.
Let’s get right to it!
My Favorite “Paradise Lost” Quote
#1
“Our torments also may in length of time become our elements.”
Through time, the trials and tribulations we go through shape us into a strong and resilient individual, just like how a diamond has to go through intense heat to be shaped into a wondrous element.
As they say, we will never know just how much we can endure in our lifetime until theres no other way but to keep on enduring; reminding us how much inner strength we are holding within the depths of us.
With the constant trials we need to surpass, this quote is a timely reminder that they are given to us not solely to test us but to also fortify our spirit.
Best Handpicked Quotes From “Paradise Lost” by John Milton
#2
“Of man’s first disobedience, and the fruit 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, sing heavenly muse.”
#4
“Thou art my father, thou my author, thou my being gav’st me; whom should I obey but thee, whom follow?”
#5
“Then wilt thou not be loath to leave this Paradise, but shalt possess a Paradise within thee, happier far.”
#6
“Immortal amarant, a flower which once in paradise, fast by the tree of life, began to bloom; but soon for man’s offence to heaven removed, where first it grew, there grows, and flowers aloft, shading the fount of life, and where the river of bliss through midst of heaven rolls o’er elysian flowers her amber stream: with these that never fade the spirits elect bind their resplendent locks.”
#7
“So shall the world go on, to good malignant, to bad men benign, under her own weight groaning.”
#8
“And, when night Darkens the streets, then wander forth the sons of Belial, flown with insolence and wine.”
#9
“Of four infernal rivers that disgorge into the burning Lake their baleful streams; abhorred Styx the flood of deadly hate, sad Acheron of sorrow, black and deep; Cocytus, nam’d of lamentation loud heard on the rueful stream; fierce Phlegethon whose waves of torrent fire inflame with rage. Far off from these a slow and silent stream, Lethe the river of oblivion rolls her wat’ry labyrinth whereof who drinks, forthwith his former state and being forgets, forgets both joy and grief, pleasure and pain.”
#11
“Heaven is for thee too high to know what passes there; be lowly wise. think only what concerns thee and thy being; dream not of other worlds, what creatures there live, in what state, condition, or degree, contented that thus far hath been revealed.”
#12
“O shame to men! Devil with devil damned firm concord holds, men only disagree of creatures rational, though under hope of heavenly grace: and God proclaiming peace, yet live in hatred, enmity, and strife among themselves, and levy cruel wars, wasting the earth, each other to destroy: as if (which might induce us to accord) man had not hellish foes enough besides, that day and night for his destruction wait.”
#13
“Horror and doubt distract his troubled thoughts and from the bottom stir the hell within him, for within him hell he brings and round about him, nor from hell one step no more than from himself can fly by change of place.”
#14
“So hand in hand they passed, the loveliest pair that ever since in love’s embraces met — Adam, the goodliest man of men since born his sons; the fairest of her daughters Eve.”
#15
“In loving thou dost well, in passion not, wherein true love consists not: Love refines the thoughts, and heart enlarges; hath his seat In reason, and is judicious.”
#16
“That day I oft remember, when from sleep I first awaked, and found myself reposed, under a shade, on flowers, much wondering where and what I was, whence thither brought, and how.”
#17
“So heavenly love shall outdo hellish hate, giving to death, and dying to redeem, so dearly to redeem what hellish hate so easily destroy’d, and still destroys, in those who, when they may, accept not grace.”
#18
“But first whom shall we send In search of this new world, whom shall we find sufficient? Who shall tempt, with wand’ring feet the dark unbottomed infinite abyss and through the palpable obscure find out his uncouth way, or spread his aery flight upborne with indefatigable wings over the vast abrupt, ere he arrive the happy isle?”
#20
“How can I live without thee, how forgoe thy sweet converse and Love so dearly joyn’d, to live again in these wilde woods forlorn? 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.”
#23
“Henceforth an individual solace dear; part of my soul I seek thee, and thee claim my other half: with that thy gentle hand seized mine, I yielded, and from that time see how beauty is excelled by manly grace.”
#24
“A dungeon horrible, on all sides round, as one great furnace flamed; yet from those flames no light; but rather darkness visible served only to discover sights of woe.”
#25
“Freely we serve, because we freely love, as in our will to love or not; in this we stand or fall.”
#26
“Neither man nor angel can discern hypocrisy, the only evil that walks invisible except to God alone.”
#28
“Be strong, live happy and love, but first of all Him whom to love is to obey, and keep His great command!”
#29
“What though the field be lost? All is not lost; the unconquerable will, and study of revenge, immortal hate, and the courage never to submit or yield.”
#30
“They, looking back, all the eastern side beheld of Paradise, so late their happy seat, waved over by that flaming brand, the gate with dreadful faces thronged and fiery arms: some natural tears they dropped, but wiped them soon; the world was all before them, where to choose their place of rest, and Providence their guide; they, hand in hand, with wandering steps and slow, through Eden took their solitary way.”
#32
“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?”
#33
“This glorious sight, when sleep hath shut all eyes?”
— Paradise Lost
#36
“Knowledge forbidden? Suspicious, reasonless. Why should their Lord envy them that? Can it be a sin to know? Can it be death?”
#37
“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.”
#39
“A mind not to be changed by place or time. The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heav’n of hell, a hell of heav’n.”
#41
“Into this wild abyss the womb of Nature, and perhaps her grave of neither sea, nor shore, nor air, nor fire, but all these in their pregnant causes mixed confusedly, and which thus must ever fight, unless the Almighty Maker them ordain his dark materials to create more worlds, into this wild abyss the wary fiend stood on the brink of hell and looked a while, pondering his voyage; for no narrow frith he had to cross.”
#44
“Did I request thee, Maker, from my clay to mould me man? Did I solicit thee from darkness to promote me?”
#45
“I sung of chaos and eternal Night, taught by the heav’nly muse to venture down the dark descent, and up to reascend.”
#46
“Me miserable! Which way shall I fly 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.”
#48
“All is not lost, the unconquerable will, and study of revenge, immortal hate, and the courage never to submit or yield.”
