“Sweet bird, that shunn'st the noise of folly, most musical, most melancholy!”

— John Milton, "Il Penseroso" (1631), line 61

About John Milton

1608 – 1674

English poet and polemicist, author of the epic 'Paradise Lost' (1667).

“A grateful mind by owing owes not, but still pays, at once indebted and discharged.”

“Man hath his daily work of body or mind appointed.”

“They also serve who only stand and wait.”

“He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.”

Attribution note: Source disputed or unverified.

“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.”

Attribution note: Source disputed or unverified.

“Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.”

“He who knows others is wise; he who knows himself is enlightened.”

Attribution note: Source disputed or unverified.

“The man who asks a question is a fool for a minute, the man who does not ask is a fool for life.”

“The truth is rarely pure and never simple.”