December 9 1608 - November 8 1674. English poet, politician, thinker; author of political pamphlets and religious treatises.
Quotes:
1. It is the liberty which is the nurse of all great wits: this is that which hath rarefied and enlightened our spirits like the influence of heaven; this is that which hath enfranchised, enlarged and lifted up our apprehensions, degrees above themselves. Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties.
2. Peace hath her victories no less renowned than war.
3. Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven.
4. Loneliness is sometimes the best company.
5. Books are not absolutely dead things, but do contain a potency of life in them. They do preserve as in a vial the purest efficacy and extraction of that living intellect that bred them. A good Book is the precious life-blood of a master-spirit, embalmed and treasured up on purpose to a life beyond life.
6. Duty is much more substantial than just words, and it should be pursued more reverently.
7. He who reigns within himself and rules passions, desires, and fears is more than a king.
8. Love should not dim, but freshen, not cloud but elucidate thoughts, as it should nest in the heart and the mind of man, and not serve only as a merriment to outside feelings which only give rise to passion.
9. … and fit audience find, though few.
10. Yet sometimes Nations will decline so low / From virtue, which is reason, that no wrong, / But Justice, and some fatal curse annexed / Deprives them of their outward liberty.
