Behind the man is the Tree of Life, bearing twelve fruits, and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is behind the woman; the serpent is twining round it.

Art creates the Eden where Adam and Eve eat the serpent.

We are much beholden to Machiavelli and others, that write what men do, and not what they ought to do . For it is not possible to join serpentine wisdom with the columbine innocency, except men know exactly all the conditions of the serpent; his baseness and going upon his belly, his volubility and lubricity, his envy and sting, and the rest; that is, all forms and natures of evil. For without this, virtue lieth open and unfenced. Nay, an honest man can do no good upon those that are wicked, to reclaim them, without the help of the knowledge of evil.

Still anyone who trusts a serpent deserves its bite. The wise see a creature for what it is, not what it says it may be.

O world, world when I was younger I thought there was some order governing you and your deeds. But now you seem to be a labyrinth of errors, a frightful desert, a den of wild beasts, a game in which men move in circles?a stony field, a meadow full of serpents, a flowering but barren orchard, a spring of cares, a river of tears, a sea of suffering, a vain hope.

the serpent if it wants to become the dragon must eat itself.

Well, even if the serpent bites off your head," says Tatterfell, "the rest of you will still look good.

Adam was but human-this explains it all. He did not want the apple for the apple's sake, he wanted it only because it was forbidden. The mistake was in not forbidding the serpent; then he would have eaten the serpent.

"O serpent heart hid with a flowering face!

Behind the man is the Tree of Life bearing twelve fruits and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is behind the woman the serpent is twining round it.