John Milton
John Milton was an English poet, polemicist, man of letters, and a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell. He wrote at a time of religious flux and political upheaval, and is best known for his epic poem Paradise Lost (1667), written in blank verse.
Milton's poetry and prose reflect deep personal convictions, a passion for freedom and self-determination, and the urgent issues and political turbulence of his day. Writing in English, Latin, Greek, and Italian, he achieved international renown within his lifetime, and his celebrated Areopagitica (1644)—written in condemnation of pre-publication censorship—is among history's most influential and impassioned defenses of free speech and freedom of the press.
William Hayley's 1796 biography called him the "greatest English author," and he remains generally regarded "as one of the preeminent writers in the English language," though critical reception has oscillated in the centuries since his death (often on account of his republicanism). Samuel Johnson praised Paradise Lost as "a poem which...with respect to design may claim the first place, and with respect to performance, the second, among the productions of the human mind," though he (a Tory and recipient of royal patronage) described Milton's politics as those of an "acrimonious and surly republican".
Because of his republicanism, Milton has been the subject of centuries of British partisanship.
“And what is faith, love, virtue unassay'd alone, without exterior help sustained?”
“The wife, where danger or dishonor lurks, safest and seemliest by her husband stays, who guards her, or with her the worst endures.”
“Such sweet compulsion doth in music lie.”
“How oft, in nations gone corrupt,And by their own devices brought down to servitude,That man chooses bondage before liberty.Bondage with ease before strenuous liberty.”
“Though all winds of doctrine were let loose to play upon the earth, so truth be in the field, we do injuriously by licensing and prohibiting to misdoubt her strength. Let her and falsehood grapple, who ever knew truth put to the worse, in a free and open encounter.”
“What is strength without a double share of wisdom?”
“A good book is the precious life-blood of a master spirit, embalmed and treasured up on purpose to a life beyond life.”
“What in me is darkIllumine, what is low raise and support,That to the height of this great argumentI may assert eternal Providence,And justify the ways of God to men. 1 Paradise Lost. Book i. Line 22.”
“Better to reign in Hell, than to serve in Heaven.”
“He left it in thy power, ordaind thy will By nature free, not over-rul'd by Fate Inextricable, or strict necessity; ”
“The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven..”
“Farewell Hope, and with Hope farewell Fear”