Paradise Lost Book 1 Quotes

• 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.

  John Milton

  Crazy, Ambition, Mad

  'Paradise Lost' (1667) bk. 1, l. 261

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

  John Milton

  Hypocrite, Angel, Men

  'Paradise Lost' (1667) bk. 3, l. 682

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• Better to reign in hell than serve in heav'n.

  John Milton

  Death, War, Paradise

  Paradise Lost bk. 1, l. 263 (1667)

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• Awake, arise or be for ever fall’n.

  John Milton

  Fall, Lucifer, Arise

  John Milton (1801). “The Poetical Works of John Milton: With the Principal Notes of Various Commentators. To which are Added Illustrations, with Some Account of the Life of Milton”, p.43

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• All is not lost, the unconquerable will, and study of revenge, immortal hate, and the courage never to submit or yield.

  John Milton

  Courage, Revenge, Hate

  Paradise Lost bk. 1, l. 105 (1667)

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• A dungeon horrible, on all sides round, As one great furnace, flamed; yet from those flames No light, but rather darkness visible Serv'd only to discover sights of woe, Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace And rest can never dwell, hope never comes That comes to all; but torture without end.

  John Milton

  Flames, Light, Sight

  'Paradise Lost' (1667) bk. 1, l. 61

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• Yet from those flames No light, but rather darkness visible.

  John Milton

  Light, Flames, Darkness

  'Paradise Lost' (1667) bk. 1, l. 61

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• 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

  John Milton

  Loss, Men, Eden

  Paradise Lost bk. 1, l. 1 (1667)

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• Which way I fly is Hell; myself am Hell.

  John Milton

  Way, Paradise, Hell

  Paradise Lost bk. 4, l. 73 (1667)

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• Pandemonium, the high capital Of Satan and his peers.

  John Milton

  Peers, Satan, Pandemonium

  Paradise Lost bk. 1, l. 756 (1667)

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• 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

  Art, Loss, Ribs

  'Paradise Lost' (1667) bk. 9, l. 914

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• And out of good still to find means of evil.

  John Milton

  Mean, Evil, Find Me

  'Paradise Lost' (1667) bk. 1, l. 165

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• Where peace
  And rest can never dwell, hope never comes,
  That comes to all.

  John Milton

  Hope, Peace, Doleful

  'Paradise Lost' (1667) bk. 1, l. 61

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• Farewell happy fields, Where joy forever dwells: Hail, horrors, hail.

  John Milton

  Happiness, Farewell, Joy

  'Paradise Lost' (1667) bk. 1, l. 249

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• Sole reigning holds the tyranny of Heav'n.

  John Milton

  Sole, Tyranny, Paradise Lost Book 9

  John Milton (1850). “Paradise Lost”, p.21

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• United thoughts and counsels, equal hope And hazard in the glorious enterprise.

  John Milton

  Hazards, Equal, Enterprise

  'Paradise Lost' (1667) bk. 1, l. 88

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• What in me is dark 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. 1 Paradise Lost. Book i. Line 22.

  John Milton

  Book, Dark, Men

  Paradise Lost bk. 1, l. 22 (1667) See Housman 5; Milton 49

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• Who overcomes by force, hath overcome but half his foe.

  John Milton

  Powerful, Military, War

  'Paradise Lost' (1667) bk. 1, l. 648

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• So glistered the dire Snake , and into fraud Led Eve, our credulous mother, to the Tree Of Prohibition, root of all our woe.

  John Milton

  Mother, Snakes, Roots

  John Milton, Alastair Fowler (2007). “Paradise Lost”, p.507, Pearson Education

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• What reinforcement we may gain from hope;
  If not, what resolution from despair.

  John Milton

  Hope, Despair, May

  'Paradise Lost' (1667) bk. 1, l. 190

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• 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

  Support, Steps, Burning

  'Paradise Lost' (1667) bk. 1, l. 292

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• He scarce had ceased when the superior fiend
  Was moving toward the shore; his ponderous shield
  Ethereal temper, massy, large and round,
  Behind him cast; the broad circumference
  Hung on his shoulders like the moon, whose orb
  Through optic glass the Tuscan artist views
  At evening from the top of Fésolè,
  Or in Valdarno, to descry new lands,
  Rivers or mountains in her spotty globe.

  John Milton

  Moving, Science, Artist

  John Milton (1855). “The complete poetical works of John Milton, with life”, p.10

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• Let none admire that riches grow in hell; that soil may best deserve the precious bane.

  John Milton

  May, Riches, Soil

  Paradise Lost bk. 1, l. 690 (1667)

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• And, when night Darkens the streets, then wander forth the sons Of Belial, flown with insolence and wine.

  John Milton

  Wine, Son, Night

  'Paradise Lost' (1667) bk. 1, l. 500

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• Earth felt the wound; and Nature from her seat, Sighing through all her works, gave signs of woe That all was lost.

  John Milton

  Earth, Woe, Losing

  'Paradise Lost' (1667) bk. 9, l. 780

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