Paradise Lost Quotes
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Source: Paradise Lost
Author: John Milton
The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.
Context
This line is spoken by Satan in the epic poem Paradise Lost, written by John Milton (1667).
This one comes from Milton's poem about Satan's beef with God and all the poor little humans caught in between. Satan spouts this bit of wisdom near the beginning of Book One, when he finds himself in fiery Hell after leading a botched rebellion against the Big Guy.
Basically, this quote is Satan trying to make himself feel better about living in a pit of fire. He figures if he puts his mind to it, Hell can be just as good as Heaven any old day. Unfortunately for him, what he thinks of Hell probably won't do anything to fix the terrible real estate prices—there's no way he's ever going to flip a lake of fire.
Where you've heard it
The most likely place you've heard this one is in an English class. Let's face it: we're dealing with Mr. John Milton here. You'll also find plenty of memes slapping the quote on one graphic or another. We're not really sure if the flower in that picture thinks it's in Heaven or Hell, though. You be the judge.
Pretentious Factor
If you were to drop this quote at a dinner party, would you get an in-unison "awww" or would everyone roll their eyes and never invite you back? Here it is, on a scale of 1-10.
Uh…yeah. Busting out some Milton at a party definitely earns you maximum pretentiousness points.