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Paradise Lost Pride Quotes

How we cite our quotes: Book Number, Line Number

Quote #7

"ye shall be as Gods
Knowing both good and evil as they know.
That ye should be as Gods, since I as Man,
Internal Man, is but proportion meet" (9.708-11)

Satan here appeals to Eve's pride, suggesting that she deserves to know good and evil; it's only natural ("proportion meet"). One should note the irony of using a phrase like "proportion meet." The world is already perfect, yet somehow Satan's rhetoric – maybe because of its own neat "proportions" – convinces Eve that things aren't fair, right, or in "proportion."