Quotes About Temptation

No banishment, indeed, to the South Pole, or to the summit of Mont Blanc, can separate us so entirely from our fellow creatures as a prolonged residence in the seclusion of a secret vice, that is to say of a state of mind that is different from theirs.

But wherefore thou alone? Wherefore with thee Came not all hell broke loose?

Firm they might have stood, yet fell; remember, and fear to transgress.

159: To do ought good never will be our task, 160: But ever to do ill our sole delight, 161: As being the contrary to his high will 162: Whom we resist. If then his Providence 163: Out of our evil seek to bring forth good, 164: Our labour must be to pervert that end, 165: And out of good still to find means of evil;

The wary fiend stood on the brink of hell, pondering his voyage

So spake the enemy of mankind, enclosed In serpent, inmate bad! and toward Eve Addressed his way: not with indented wave, Prone on the ground, as since; but on his rear, Circular base of rising folds, that towered Fold above fold, a surging maze! his head Crested aloft, and carbuncle his eyes; With burnished neck of verdant gold, erect Amidst his circling spires, that on the grass Floated redundant: pleasing was his shape And lovely; never since of serpent-kind Lovelier…

The Tempter ere th' Accuser of man-kind, To wreck on innocent frail man his loss Of that first Battel, and his flight to Hell: Yet

Of Man's first disobedience, and the fruit

So having said, he thus to Eve in few: Say Woman, what is this which thou hast done? To whom sad Eve with shame nigh overwhelm'd, Confessing soon, yet not before her Judge Bold or loquacious, thus abasht repli'd. The Serpent me beguil'd and I did eate.

Forth reaching to the fruit, she plucked, she ate: Earth felt the wound, and Nature from her seat Sighing through all her works gave signs of woe, That all was lost.

But listen not to his temptations, warn Thy weaker. Let it profit thee to have heard, By terrible example, the reward Of disobedience. Firm they might have stood, Yet fell. Remember, and fear to transgress.

Greedily they plucked The fruitage fair to sight, like that which grew Near that bituminous lake where Sodom flamed; This more delusive, not the touch, but taste Deceived. They, fondly thinking to allay Their appetite with gust, instead of fruit Chewed bitter ashes

For now, and since first break of dawne the Fiend,   Meer Serpent in appearance, forth was come,   And on his Quest, where likeliest he might finde   The onely two of Mankinde, but in them   The whole included Race, his purposd prey.

To reign is worth ambition though in Hell: Better to reign in Hell, then serve in Heav'n.

De la întâia neascultare a omului, È™i fructul Copacului oprit, al c?rui gust mortal A adus moartea în lume È™i toat? durerea noastr?, Pentru pierderea Edenului, pân? când un Om mai m?reÈ› Ne va duce înapoi È™i va recâÈ™tiga acest loc minunat.

To reign is worth ambition though in Hell:   Better to reign in Hell, then serve in Heav'n.

But of the tree whose operation brings Knowledge of good and ill, which I have set The pledge of thy obedience and thy faith, Amid the garden by the tree of life, Remember what I warn thee. Shun to taste. And shun the bitter consequence. For know, The day thou eatest thereof, my sole command Transgressed, inevitably thou shalt die, From that day mortal; and this happy state Shalt lose, expelled from hence into a world Of woe and sorrow.

One fatal tree there stands of knowledge call'd Forbidden them to taste. Knowledge forbidden? Suspicious, reasonless. Why should their Lord Envy them that? Can it be sin to know? Can it be death? And do they only stand By ignorance? Is that their happy state, The proof of their obedience and their faith?

To reign is worth ambition though in Hell: Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven.

I endeavored to renounce society, that I might avoid temptation. But it was a poor religion; so far as it prevailed, only tended to make me gloomy, stupid, unsociable, and useless.

A man may beat down the bitter fruit from an evil tree until he is weary; while the root abides in strength and vigour, the beating down of the present fruit will not hinder it from bringing forth more. This is the folly of some men; they set themselves with all earnestness and diligence against the appearing eruption of lust, but, leaving the principle and root untouched, perhaps unsearched out, they make but little or no progress in this work of mortification.

A believer] is oftentimes at the very brink, at the very door of some folly or iniquity, when God puts in by the efficacy of actually assisting grace, and recovers them to an obediential frame of heart again. And this is a peculiar work of Christ, wherein he manifests and exerts his faithfulness toward his own: 'He is able to succor them that are tempted' (Heb. 2:18)....Here lies a great part of the care and faithfulness of Christ toward his poor saints.

Were our affections filled, taken up, and possessed with these things . . . what access could sin, with its painted pleasures, with its sugared poisons, with its envenomed baits, have unto our souls?

keep the heart full of a sense of the love of God in Christ. This is the greatest preservative against the power of temptation in the world. Joseph