Paradise

And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee,To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.

—Bible (NewTestament)

   I was born for opera buffa, as well Thou knowest. Little skill, a little heart, and that is all. So beThou blessed and admit me to Paradise.

—Rossini, Gioacchino Antonio

There is no expeditious road To pack and label men for God, And save them by the barrel-load, Some may perchance, with strange surprise, Have blundered into Paradise.

—Thompson, Francis

Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.Government, like dress, is the badge of lost innocence; the palaces of kings are built upon the bowers of paradise.

—Paine,Thomas

Into a limbo large and broad, since called The Paradise of Fools, to few unknown.

—Milton,John

Oh, wasteful woman, she who may On her sweet self set her own price, Knowing man cannot choose but pay, How has she cheapened paradise: How given for naught her priceless gift, How spoiled the bread and spilled the wine, Which, spent with due, respective thrift, Had made brutes men, and men divine.

—Patmore, Coventry Kersey Dighton

Cheese for dessert is rather like Paradise Lost in that everyone thinks he ought to like it, but still you don't notice too many people actually curling up with it.

—Bracken, Peg

Glory is to God what style is to an artist† To behold God's glory, to sense his style, is the closest you can get this side of Paradise, just as to read King Lear is the closest you can get to Shakespeare. 165

—Buechner, (Carl) Frederick

And all who heard should see them there, And all should cry, Beware! Beware! His flashing eyes, his floating hair! Weave a circle round him thrice, And close your eyes with holy dread, For he on honey-dew hath fed, And drunk the milk of Paradise.

—Coleridge, Samuel Taylor

England istheparadise of women, thepurgatoryof men, and the hell of horses.

—Florio,John

O fleeting joys Of Paradise, dear bought with lasting woes!

—Milton,John

   To begin with, I was born with an unreasonably large stock of relations, who have increased and multiplied ever since. My aunts and uncles were legion, and my cousins as the sands of the sea without number. Consequently, even a low death-rate meant, in the course of mere natural decay, a tolerably steady supply of funerals for a by no means affectionate but exceedingly clannish family to go to. Add to this that the town we lived in, being divided in religious opinion, buried its dead in two great cemeteries, each of which was held by the opposite faction to be the ante- chamber of perdition, and by its own patrons to be the gate of paradise.

—Shaw, George Bernard

Theyare so beautiful that they would gracethe entrance to Paradise.

—Michelangelo full name Michelangelo Buonarroti

There is a garden in her face, Where roses and white lilies grow, A heavenly paradise is that place, Wherein all pleasant fruits do flow. There cherries grow, which none may buy Till 'Cherry ripe!'themselves do cry.

—Campion,Thomas

Hail, wedded love, mysterious law, true source Of human offspring, sole propriety In Paradise of all things common else. 583

—Milton,John

   Thou hast the keys of Paradise, oh just, subtle, and mighty opium!

—Depp,Johnny (John Christopher)

The joys of marriage are the heaven on earth, Life's paradise, great princess, the soul's quiet, Sinews of concord, earthly immortality, Eternity of pleasures; no restoratives Like to a constant woman.

—Ford,John

Lost Angel of a ruined Paradise! She knew not 'twas her own; as with no stain She faded, like a cloud which had outwept its rain.

—Shelley, Percy Bysshe

The world was beforethecreationand at anend beforeit had a beginning; and thus was I dead before I was alive. Though my grave be England, my dying place was Paradise, and Eve miscarried of me before she conceived of Cain.

—Browne, SirThomas

In ten thousand years the Sierras Will be dryand dead, home of the scorpion. Ice-scratched slabs and bent trees. No paradise, no fall, Only the weathering land The wheeling sky, Man, with his Satan Scouring the chaos of the mind. Oh Hell!

—Snyder, Gary Sherman

For there isgood news yet to hear and fine things to be seen, Before we go to Paradise by way of Kensal Green.

—Chesterton, G(ilbert) K(eith)

Fanatics have their dreams, wherewith they weave A paradise for a sect.

—Keats,John

His motions all accompanied with grace; And paradise was opened in his face.

—Dryden,John

Thou Paradise of exiles, Italy!

—Shelley, Percy Bysshe

Oh thou, that dear and happy isle The garden of the world ere while, Thou paradise of four seas, Which heaven planted us to please, But, to exclude the world, did guard With watery if not flaming sword; What luckless apple did we taste, To make us mortal, and thee waste?

—Marvell, Andrew

But as for him who feared the Station of his Lord and forbade the soul its caprice, surely Paradise shall be the refuge.

—The Koran

This having learnt, thou hast attained the sum Of wisdom; hope no higher, though all the stars Thou knew'st by name, and all th'ethereal powers, All secrets of the deep, all nature's works, Or works of God in heav'n, air, earth, or sea, And all the riches of this world enjoy'dst, And all the rule, one empire; onlyadd Deeds to thy knowledge answerable, add faith, Add virtue, patience, temperance, add love, By name to come called charity, the soul Of all the rest: then wilt thou not be loath To leave this Paradise, but shalt possess A paradise within thee, happier far.

—Milton,John

Whose love isgiven over-well Shall look on Helen's face in hell Whilst they whose love is thin and wise Shall see John Knox in Paradise.

—Parker, Dorothy ne¤  e Rothschild

No, the serpent did not Seduce Eve to the apple. All that's simply Corruption of the facts. Adam ate the apple. Eve ate Adam. The serpent ate Eve. This is the dark intestine. The serpent, meanwhile, Sleeps his meal off in Paradiseö Smiling to hear God's querulous calling.

—Hughes,Ted (Edward James)

  Bequeath us no earthly shore until Is answered in the vortex of our grave The seal's wide spindrift gaze toward paradise.

—Crane, (Harold) Hart

Mutual forgiveness of each vice, Such are the Gates of Paradise.

—Blake,William

Don't it always seem to go That you don't know what you've got Till it's gone. They paved paradise And put up a parking lot.

—Mitchell,Joni (RobertaJoan) ne¤  e  Anderson

Here with a loaf of bread beneath the bough, A flask of wine, a book of verseöand Thou Beside me singing in the wildernessö And wilderness is paradise enow.

—Fitzgerald, Edward

  An isle under Ionian skies Beautiful as a wreck of Paradise.

—Shelley, Percy Bysshe