Into this wild abyss,
The womb of nature and perhaps her grave,
Of neither sea, nor shore, nor air, nor fire,
But all these in their pregnant causes mixed
Confusedly, and which thus must ever fight,
Unless the almighty maker them ordain
His dark materials to create more worlds,
Into this wild abyss the wary fiend
Stood on the brink of hell and looked a while,
Pondering his voyage…

-John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book II

The morning comes, the night decays, the watchmen
Leave their stations;
The grave is burst, the spices shed, the linen wrapped up;
The bones of death, the cov’ring clay, the sinews shrunk & dry’d
Reviving shake, inspiring move, breathing, awakening,
Spring live redeemed captives when their bonds & bars are burst.
Let the slave grinding at the mill run out into the field,
Let him look up into the heavens & laugh in the bright air;
Let the inchained soul, shut up in darkness and in sighing,
Whose face as never seen a smile in thirty weary years,
Rise and look out; his chains are loose, his dungeon doors
Are open;
And let his wife and children return from the oppressor’s scourge.
They look behind them at every step & believe it is a dream,
Singing: “The Sun has left his blackness & has found a
Fresher morning,
And the fair moon rejoices in the clear & cloudless night;
For Empire is no more, and now the Lion & Wolf shall cease.”

-from “America: A Prophecy” by William Blake

O stars, Isn’t it from you hat the lover’s desire for the face
Of his beloved arises? Doesn’t his secret insight
Into her pure features come from the pure constellations?

-From “The Third Elegy” by Rainer Maria Rilke

Fine vapors escape from whatever is doing the living.
The night is cold and delicate and full of angels
Pounding down the living. The factories are all lit up,
The chime goes unheard.
We are together at last, though far apart.

-from “The Ecclesiast” by John Ashberry

There were also quotes at the beginning of each chapter of The Amber Spyglass. Only the British editions and the latest American edition of The Amber Spyglass has these quotes (no reason has ever been given as to why the quotes were not included in the hardback American TAS).

Chapter 1
While the Beasts of Prey,
come from Caverns Deep,
Viewed the Maid Asleep...
-William Blake

Chapter 2
Then a spirit passed before my face;
The hair of my flesh stood up
-The Book of Job

Chapter 3
The Knight's bones are Dust,
and his good sword rust;
His soul is with the saints, I trust
-S.T. Coleridge

Chapter 4
She lay as if at Play
Her life had Leaped away
Intending to Return
But not so soon
-Emily Dickinson

Chapter 5
...With Ambitious Aim
against The Throne and monarchy of God
Rais'd Impious War in Heav'n, and Battel Proud
-John Milton

Chapter 6
Reliques, Beads Indulgences, Dispenses,
Pardons, Bulls, The Sport of Winds...
-John Milton

Chapter 7
Last Rose as in dance the stately trees,
& spread their Branches Hung with copious Fruit...
-John Milton

Chapter 8
I have been a stranger in a strange LAND -Exodus

Chapter 9
...A shade apon the mind there passes as when on noon a cloud the mighty sun encloses...
-Emily Dickinson

Chapter 10
There ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man's hand -1 Kings

Chapter 11
A truth that's told with Bad Intent
Beats All the Lies you can Invent
-William Blake

Chapter 12
Still as he fled,
his eye was backward cast,
as if His Fear still FOLLOWED Him Behind
-Edmund Spencer

Chapter 13
Frowning,
Frowning night o'er this Desart Bright
let thy Moon Arise
while I close My Eyes -William Blake

Chapter 14
Labour without Joy is Base.
Labour without Sorrow is Base.
Sorrow without Labour is Base.
Joy without Labour is Base.
-John Ruskin

Chapter 15
As I was walking among the Fires of Hell,
Delighted with the Enjoyments of Genius
-William Blake

Chapter 16
From the Arched Roof Pendant by Subtle magic
many a row of Starry Camps and Blazing Cressets Fed
with Naphtha and Asphaltus Yielded Light... -John Milton

Chapter 17
Now the Serpent was more Subtil than any Beast of the Field Which the Lord God had made.
-Genesis

Chapter 18
O That it were possible we might but hold
some two days conference with The Dead...
-John Webster

Chapter 19
I was Angry with my Friend; I told my wrath, my wrath did End. -William Blake

Chapter 20
I Gained it so,
by climbing slow,
by catching at the twigs that grow between the Bliss
And Me
-Emily Dickinson

Chapter 21
I hate things All Fiction... There should Always be some Foundation of Fact...
-Byron

Chapter 22
Thick as Autumnal leaves that strow the Brooks in Vallombrosa,
Where Th' Etrurian shades high over- Aran't Imbowr...
-John Milton

Chapter 23
And Ye Shall Know the Truth, and the Truth shall make You Free. -St. John

Chapter 24
As is the mother, so is her Daughter. -Ezekiel

Chapter 25
A Bracelet of Bright Hair about the Bone...
-John Donne

Chapter 26
The sun has left his Blackness & has found a Fresher Morning,
& the Fair Moon Rejoices in the clear & cloudless Night...
-William Blake

Chapter 27
My soul into the boughs does Glide:
there like a bird it sits,
And sings,
then Whets, and combs its silver wings... -Andrew Marvell

Chapter 28
For Many a Time I have Been half in Love with Easeful Death... -John Keats

Chapter 29
Each man in his Spectre's Power
until The Arrival of that hour
when his Humanity Awake... -William Blake

Chapter 30
Farr off Th' Empyreal Heav'n,
Extended Wide in Circuit,
Undetermined Square or Round,
With Opal Towrs And Battlements
Adorn'd of Living Sapphire...
-John Milton

Chapter 31
For Empire Is No More,
And now the Lion & Wolf Shall cease.
-William Blake

Chapter 32
The Morn~ ing comes, the Night DECAYS,
The Watchmen LEAVE their stations...
-William Blake

Chapter 33
Sweet Spring Full of sweet days and Roses,
A box Where sweets compacted Lie
-George Herbert

Chapter 34
Shew you all Alive the World,
Where Every Particle of Dust Breathes Forth its Joy
-William Blake

Chapter 35
The Birth- Day of my Life is come,
My Love is Come to me
-Christina Rossetti

Chapter 36
But Fate Does Iron Wedges Drive,
and Alwais crowds itself betwixt.
-Andrew Marvell

Chapter 37
My Soul, Do Not Seek Eternal Life,
But Exhaust the Realm of the Possible.
-Pindar

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