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.
Man, a mere inhabitant of the earth, cannot overstep its boundaries! But though he is confined to its crust, he may penetrate into all its secrets.
The power which a multiple millionaire, who may be my neighbor and perhaps my employer, has over me is very much less than that which the smallest "functionaire" possesses who wields the coercive power of the state, and on whose desecration it depends whether and how I am allowed to live or to work.
The gospel of Christ must always be an open door with a welcome sign for all.
We control the world basically because we are the only animals that can cooperate flexibly in very large numbers. And if you examine any large-scale human cooperation, you will always find that it is based on some fiction like the nation, like money, like human rights.
Pornographers are the enemies of women only because our contemporary ideology of pornography does not encompass the possibility of change, as if we were the slaves of history and not its makers. . . . Pornography is a satire on human pretensions.
There was a land of Cavaliers and Cotton Fields called the Old South. Here in this pretty world, Gallantry took its last bow. Here was the last ever to be seen of Knights and their Ladies Fair, of Master and of Slave. Look for it only in books, for it is no more than a dream remembered, a Civilization gone with the wind.
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