#171

“Your fear of death removes the fear.
Why then was this forbid? Why but to awe,
Why but to keep ye low and ignorant,
His worshippers; 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 gods,
Knowing both good and evil as they know.”(id, IX. 702-709)

#170

“O foul descent! That I who erst contended
With Gods to sit the highest, am now constrained
Into a beast, and mixed with bestial slime,
This essence to incarnate and imbrute,
That to the heighth of Deity aspired” (id, IX. 163-167)

#169

“(...) In solitude
What happiness, who can enjoy alone,
or all enjoying, what contentment find?” (id, VIII. 364-366)

#168

“But knowledge is food , and needs no less
Her temperance over appetite, to know
In measure what the mind may well contain,
Oppresses else with surfeit, and soon turns
Wisdom to folly, as nourishment to wind.” (id, VII. 124-130)

#167

“One fatal Tree there stands of Knowledge called,
Forbidden them to taste: knowledge forbidd'n?
Suspicious, reasonless. Why should their Lord
Envy them that? Can it be sin to know,
Can it be death? And do they only stand
By ignorance, is that their happy state,
The proof of their obedience and their faith?
O fair foundation laid whereon to build
Their ruin!” (id, IV. 514-522)

#166

“Free, and to none accountable, preferring
Hard liberty before the easy yoke
Of servile pomp” (id, II. 255-257)

#165

“Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heav'n” (id, I. 263)

#164

“Innumerable force of Spirits armed
That durst dislike his reign, and me preferring,
His utmost power with adverse power opposed
In dubious battle on the plains of Heav'n,
And shook his throne. What though the field be lost?
All is not lost; the unconquerable will,
And study of revenge, immortal hate,
And courage never to submit or yield:
And what else is not to be overcome?” (Milton, I. 101-109)

MILTON, John (2003). Paradise Lost. London: Penguin Books.