True Libertie Is lost, which alwayes with right Reason dwells 

Twinn'd, and from her hath no dividual being: 

Reason in man obscur'd, or not obeyd, 

Immediately inordinate desires

And upstart Passions catch the Government

From Reason, and to servitude reduce Man till then free. 

Therefore since hee permits 

Within himself unworthie Powers to reign

Over free Reason, God in Judgement just

Subjects him from without to violent Lords;   

Who oft as undeservedly enthrall His outward freedom:

Tyrannie must be,   

Though to the Tyrant thereby no excuse.

 

John Milton, Paradise Lost

 

 

Nor love thy Life, nor hate; but what thou livst
Live well, how long or short permit to Heav'n.

John Milton, Paradise Lost

For Time, though in Eternitie, appli'd to motion, measures all things durable by present, past, and future.

 John Milton, Paradise Lost

Who overcomes by force hath overcome but half his foe.

Satan, Paradise Lost by Milton

To know good by knowing good is the privilege of the unfallen.

Catherine Nicholson, on Milton in the NYR.  

 

Eloquence and erudition were the twin prerequisites of greatness ... any effort expended in the cultivation of such gifts would surely be rewarded, if not in this world then in the world to come.

Catherine Nicholson, on Milton in the NYR. 

Ingrate, he had of me all he could have;
I made him just and right,
Sufficient to have stood,
Though free to fall.

Milton, Paradise Lost, Book III.