The mind is its own place, and in itself
Can make a Heav'n of Hell, a Hell of Heav'n
-Satan, Paradise Lost, Book 1, lines 254-255
Here at last
We shall be free; th' Almighty hath not built
Here for his envy [i.e., because he desires this place], will not drive us hence:
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 Heav'n.
-Satan, Paradise Lost, Book 1, lines 258-263
Awake, arise, or be for ever fall'n.
-Satan, Paradise Lost, Book 1, line 330
Either to disenthrone the King of Heav'n
We war, if war be best, or to regain
Our own right lost: him to unthrone we then
May hope when everlasting fate shall yield
To fickle chance, and Chaos judge the strife:
-Mammon, Paradise Lost, Book 2, lines 229-233
Our torments also may in length of time
Become our elements, these piercing fires
As soft as now severe, our temper [constitution] changed
Into their temper; which must needs remove
The sensible of pain [Pain felt by the senses].
-Mammon, Paradise Lost, Book 2, lines 274-278
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 enow [enough] besides,
That day and night for his destruction wait.
-Milton, Paradise Lost, Book 2, Lines 496-505
For should man finally be lost, should man
Thy creature late so loved, thy youngest son
Fall circumvented thus by fraud, though joined
With his own folly? That be from thee far,
That far be from thee, Father, who art judge
Of all things made, and judgest only right.
-God the Son, Paradise Lost, Book 3, Lines 150-155
Behold me then, me for him, life for life
I offer, on me let thine anger fall;
-God the Son, Paradise Lost, Book 3, Lines 236-237
Who aspires must down as low
As high he soared, obnoxious [exposed] first or last
To basest things. Revenge, at first though sweet,
Bitter ere long back on itself recoils;
Let it; I reck [care] not, so it light well aimed,
Since higher I fall short, on him who next
Provokes my envy, this new favorite
Of Heav'n, this man of clay, son of despite,
Whom us the more to spite his Maker raised
From dust; spite then with spite is best repaid.
-Satan, Paradise Lost, Book 9, Lines 169-178
For solitude sometimes is best society,
And short retirement urges sweet return.
-Adam, Paradise Lost, Book 9, Lines 249-250
Let us not then suspect our happy state
Left so imperfect by the Maker wise,
As not secure to single [one alone] or combined.
Frail is our happiness, if this be so,
And Eden were no Eden thus exposed.
-Eve, Paradise Lost, Book 9, Lines 337-341
God therefore cannot hurt ye, and be just;
Not just, not God; not feared then, nor obeyed:
Your fear itself of death removes the fear.
When then was this forbid? Why but to awe,
Why but to keep ye low and ignorant,
His worshipers; he knows that in the day
Ye eat thereof, your eyes that seem so clear,
Yet are but dim, shall perfectly be then
Opened and cleared, and ye shall be as gods,
Knowing both good and evil as they know.
That ye should be as gods, since I as man,
Internal man, is but proportion meet,
I of brute human, ye of human gods.
So ye shall die perhaps, by putting off
Human, to put on gods, death to be wished,
Though threatened, which no worse than this can bring.
-Satan, Paradise Lost, Book 9, Lines 700-715
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.
-Adam, Paradise Lost, Book 9, Lines 911-916
Nor can I think that God, Creator wise,
Though threat'ning, will in earnest so destroy
Us his prime creatures, dignified so high,
Set over all his works, which in our fall,
For us created, needs with us must fail,
Dependent made; so God shall uncreate,
Be frustrate, do, undo, and labor lose,
Not well conceived of God, who though his power
Creation could repeat, yet would be loath
Us to abolish, lest the Adversary [Satan]
Triumph and say; 'Fickle their state whom God
Most favors, who can please him long? Me first
He ruined, now mankind; whom will be next?'
Matter of scorn, not to be given the Foe.
-Adam, Paradise Lost, Book 9, Lines 938-951
if death
Consort [associate] with thee, death is to me as life;
So forcible within my heart I feel
The bond of nature draw me to my own,
My own in thee, for what thou art is mine;
Our state cannot be severed, we are one,
One flesh; to lose thee were to lose myself.
-Adam, Paradise Lost, Book 9, Lines 953-959
I warned thee, I admonished thee, foretold
The danger, and the lurking enemy
That lay in wait; beyond this had been force,
And force upon free will hath here no place.
-Adam, Paradise Lost, Book 9, Lines 1171-1174