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John Milton on Anniversary

1608–1674 England

← All quotes by John Milton

21 quotes

Hail wedded love, mysterious law, true source
Of human offspring.

And every shepherd tells his tale
Under the hawthorn in the dale.

L'Allegro (1631)

Freely we serve,
Because we freely love, as in our will
To love or not; in this we stand or fall.

For nothing lovelier can be found
In woman, than to study household good,
And good works in her husband to promote.

Time will run back and fetch the Age of Gold.

On the Morning of Christ's Nativity (1629)

Her virtue and the conscience of her worth,
That would be woo'd, and not unsought be won.

Day and night,
Seed-time and harvest, heat and hoary frost
Shall hold their course, till fire purge all things new.

See golden days, fruitful of golden deeds,
With joy and love triumphing.

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

So dear I love him, that with him all deaths
I could endure, without him live no life.

Imparadis'd in one another's arms.

It is not virtue, wisdom, valour, wit,
Strength, comeliness of shape, or amplest merit,
That woman's love can win, or long inherit;
But what it is, hard is to say,
Harder to hit.

Samson Agonistes (1671)

License they mean when they cry, Liberty!
For who loves that must first be wise and good.

Say, heavenly pow'rs, where shall we find such love?
Which of ye will be mortal to redeem
Man's mortal crime, and just th' unjust to save.

For what thou art is mine:
Our state cannot be sever'd; we are one,
One flesh; to lose thee were to lose myself.

Fly, envious Time, till thou run out thy race:
Call on the lazy leaden-stepping Hours,
Whose speed is but the heavy plummet's pace;
And glut thyself with what thy womb devours,
Which is no more than what is false and vain,
And merely mortal dross.

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.

Samson Agonistes (1671)

Awake,
My fairest, my espous'd, my latest found,
Heaven's last best gift, my ever new delight!

What thou bidd'st
Unargu'd I obey, so God ordains;
God is thy law, thou mine; to know no more
Is woman's happiest knowledge and her praise.

Such sober certainty of waking bliss.

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: John Milton (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.