Abashed the devil stood and felt how awful goodness is and saw Virtue in her shape how lovely: and pined his loss
Interpretation
The quote reflects the internal struggle between good and evil, highlighting the beauty of virtue and the torment of recognizing one's own failings.
In this quote, John Milton personifies the devil experiencing shame as he observes the inherent beauty of goodness and virtue. This moment of self-awareness unveils the torment of moral failure and reveals the deep desire for a purity that he cannot attain, suggesting that even the most malevolent can recognize the allure of goodness and feel regret for what they lack.
In practice
In a speech about morality, one could use this quote to emphasize the struggle between good and evil.
They, looking back, all the eastern side beheld Of Paradise, so late their happy seat, Waved over by that flaming brand, the gate With dreadful faces thronged and fiery arms: Some natural tears they dropped, but wiped them soon; The world was all before them, where to choose Their place of rest, and Providence their guide; They, hand in hand, with wandering steps and slow, Through Eden took their solitary way.
The stars, that nature hung in heaven, and filled their lamps with everlasting oil, give due light to the misled and lonely traveller.
Ev'n them who kept thy truth so pure of old, When all our fathers worshipp'd stocks and stones.
The end of all learning is to know God, and out of that knowledge to love and imitate Him.
Apt words have power to suage the tumors of a troubled mind.
Bacchus, that first from out the purple grape_x000D_ _x000D_ Crush'd the sweet poison of misused wine.
To rewrite history on the bases of hypotheses which have not materialized is not only a fruitless task, but, in my eyes, meaningless.
So what is the difference between someone who willfully indulges in sexual pleasures while ignoring the Bible on moral purity and someone who willfully indulges in the selfish pursuit of more and more material possessions while ignoring the Bible on caring for the poor? The difference is that one involves a social taboo in the church and the other involves the social norm in the church.
We are not at war with Islam. We are at war with people who have perverted Islam.
The place they go towards is a place even less imaginable to us than the city of happiness. I cannot describe it at all. It is possible it does not exist. But they seem to know where they are going, the ones who walk away from Omelas.
.. that a rule, which, in speculation, may seem the most advantageous to society, may yet be found, in practice, totally pernicious and destructive.
Memory is the seamstress, and a capricious one at that. Memory runs her needle in and out, up and down, hither and thither. We know not what comes next, or what follows after. Thus, the most ordinary movement in the world, such as sitting down at a table and pulling the inkstand towards one, may agitate a thousand odd, disconnected fragments, now bright, now dim, hanging and bobbing and dipping and flaunting, like the underlinen of a family of fourteen on a line in a gale of wind.
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