“To reign is worth ambition though in Hell:
Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven.”
John Milton book Paradise Lost
i.262-263
Paradise Lost (1667)
“Here at last
We shall be free;
the Almighty hath not built
Here for his envy, 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 Heaven.”
Last update June 3, 2021. History
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We shall be free;
the Almighty hath not built
Here for his envy, will not drive us hence:
Here we may …" by John Milton?
John Milton190
English epic poet 1608–1674Related quotes
“Better to reign in Hell, than to serve in Heaven.”
John Milton book Paradise Lost
Variant: Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven.
Source: Paradise Lost
Julian of Norwich (1342–1416) English theologian and anchoress
The Sixteenth Revelation, Chapter 81
Context: Our Good Lord shewed Himself in diverse manners both in heaven and in earth, but I saw Him take no place save in man’s soul.
He shewed Himself in earth in the sweet Incarnation and in His blessed Passion. And in other manner He shewed Himself in earth where I say: I saw God in a Point. And in another manner He shewed Himself in earth thus as it were in pilgrimage: that is to say, He is here with us, leading us, and shall be till when He hath brought us all to His bliss in heaven. He shewed Himself diverse times reigning, as it is aforesaid; but principally in man’s soul. He hath taken there His resting-place and His worshipful City: out of which worshipful See He shall never rise nor remove without end.
Tina Turner (1939) singer, dancer, actress, and author
"That's My Purpose" on Nutbush City Limits (1973)
Lyrics
“Hell is gone and heaven's here,
there’s nothing left for you to fear.”
Robbie Williams (1974) British singer and entertainer
Let Me Entertain You
Life Thru a Lens (1997)
R. A. Lafferty (1914–2002) American writer
Roadstrum, in Ch. 8
Space Chantey (1968)
Context: I will be double-damned to a better Hell than Hellpepper Planet if I will have my ending here in peace! Peace be not the end of my epic! An epic is already failed if it have an ending. I don't care how it ended the first time — it will not end the same now!
Sri Aurobindo book Savitri: A Legend and a Symbol
Savitri (1918-1950), Book Two : The Book of the Traveller of the Worlds
Context: A memory steals in from lost heavens of Truth,
A wide release comes near, a Glory calls,
A might looks out, an estranged felicity.
In glamorous passages of half-veiled light
Wandering, a brilliant shadow of itself,
This quick uncertain leader of blind gods,
This tender of small lamps, this minister serf
Hired by a mind and body for earth-use
Forgets its work mid crude realities;
It recovers its renounced imperial right,
It wears once more a purple robe of thought
And knows itself the Ideal's seer and king,
Communicant and prophet of the Unborn,
Heir to delight and immortality.
All things are real that here are only dreams,
In our unknown depths sleeps their reserve of truth,
On our unreached heights they reign and come to us
In thought and muse trailing their robes of light.
