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William Blake
179 quotes
“Reason, or the ratio of all we have already known, is not the same that it shall be when we know more.”
William Blake (1757–1827) first seen 1788 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: There Is No Natural Religion (1788)
“The true method of knowledge is experiment.”
William Blake (1757–1827) first seen 1788 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: All Religions are One (1788)
“There can be no Good Will. Will is always Evil; it is persecution to others or selfishness.”
William Blake (1757–1827) first seen 1788 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Annotations to Swedenborg (1788)
“If a thing loves, it is infinite.”
William Blake (1757–1827) first seen 1788 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Annotations to Swedenborg (1788)
“Does the Eagle know what is in the pit? Or wilt thou go ask the Mole? Can Wisdom be put in a silver rod? Or Love in a golden bowl?”
William Blake (1757–1827) first seen 1789 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Book of Thel, Thel's Motto (1789–1792)
“How sweet I roamed from field to field, And tasted all the summer's pride, Till I the prince of love beheld, Who in the sunny beams did glide!”
William Blake (1757–1827) said by 1827 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He loves to sit and hear me sing, Then, laughing, sports and plays with me; Then stretches out my golden wing, And mocks my loss of liberty.”
William Blake (1757–1827) said by 1827 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My silks and fine array, My smiles and languished air, By love are driv'n away; And mournful lean Despair Brings me yew to deck my grave: Such end true lovers have.”
William Blake (1757–1827) said by 1827 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Like a fiend in a cloud, With howling woe, After night I do crowd, And with night will go; I turn my back to the east, From whence comforts have increased; For light doth seize my brain With frantic pain.”
William Blake (1757–1827) said by 1827 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“How have you left the ancient love That bards of old enjoyed in you! The languid strings do scarcely move! The sound is forced, the notes are few!”
William Blake (1757–1827) said by 1827 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“True superstition is ignorant honesty & this is beloved of god and man.”
William Blake (1757–1827) said by 1827 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Forgiveness of enemies can only come upon their repentance.”
William Blake (1757–1827) said by 1827 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Active Evil is better than Passive Good.”
William Blake (1757–1827) said by 1827 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“They suppose that Woman's Love is Sin; in consequence all the Loves & Graces with them are Sin.”
William Blake (1757–1827) said by 1827 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Piping down the valleys wild, Piping songs of pleasant glee, On a cloud I saw a child, And he laughing said to me: "Pipe a song about a Lamb." So I piped with merry cheer; "Piper, pipe that song again." So I piped; he wept to hear.”
William Blake (1757–1827) said by 1827 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And I made a rural pen, And I stained the water clear, And I wrote my happy songs Every child may joy to hear.”
William Blake (1757–1827) said by 1827 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Sing louder around To the bells' cheerful sound, While our sports shall be seen On the ecchoing green.”
William Blake (1757–1827) said by 1827 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Little Lamb, who made thee? Dost thou know who made thee? Gave thee life and bid thee feed By the stream and o'er the mead; Gave thee clothing of delight, Softest clothing, woolly bright.”
William Blake (1757–1827) said by 1827 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My mother bore me in the southern wild, And I am black, but O! my soul is white; White as an angel is the English child, But I am black as if bereaved of light.”
William Blake (1757–1827) said by 1827 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And we are put on earth a little space, That we may learn to bear the beams of love, And these black bodies and this sunburnt face Is but a cloud, and like a shady grove.”
William Blake (1757–1827) said by 1827 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I'll shade him from the heat till he can bear To lean in joy upon our Father's knee; And then I'll stand and stroke his silver hair, And be like him and he will then love me.”
William Blake (1757–1827) said by 1827 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When my mother died I was very young, And my father sold me while yet my tongue Could scarcely cry 'weep! 'weep! 'weep!'weep! So your chimneys I sweep, and in soot I sleep.”
William Blake (1757–1827) said by 1827 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love All pray in their distress; And to these virtues of delight Return their thankfulness.For Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love Is God, our father dear, And Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love Is Man, his child and care.For Mercy has a human heart, Pity a human face, And Love, the human form divine, And Peace, the human dress.”
William Blake (1757–1827) said by 1827 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Then every man, of every clime, That prays in his distress, Prays to the human form divine, Love, Mercy, Pity, Peace. And all must love the human form, In heathen, Turk, or Jew; Where Mercy, Love, and Pity dwell There God is dwelling too.”
William Blake (1757–1827) said by 1827 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The moon like a flower In heaven's high bower, With silent delight, Sits and smiles on the night.”
William Blake (1757–1827) said by 1827 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And there the lion's ruddy eyes Shall flow with tears of gold, And pitying the tender cries, And walking round the fold, Saying: "Wrath by his meekness, And by his health, sickness, Is driven away From our immortal day.”
William Blake (1757–1827) said by 1827 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“For washed in life's river, My bright mane forever Shall shine like the gold As Iguard o'er the fold.”
William Blake (1757–1827) said by 1827 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When the voices of children are heard on the green And laughing is heard on the hill, My heart is at rest within my breast And everything else is still.”
William Blake (1757–1827) said by 1827 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Can I see another's woe, And not be in sorrow too? Can I see another's grief, And not seek for kind relief?”
William Blake (1757–1827) said by 1827 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Nothing can be more contemptible than to suppose Public RECORDS to be True.”
William Blake (1757–1827) first seen 1798 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Annotations to An Apology for the Bible by R. Watson (1798)
“That the Jews assumed a right Exclusively to the benefits of God. will be a lasting witness against them. & the same will it be against Christians”
William Blake (1757–1827) first seen 1798 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Annotations to An Apology for the Bible by R. Watson (1798)
“In my Brain are studies & Chambers fill'd with books & pictures of old, which I wrote & painted in ages of Eternity before my mortal life;”
William Blake (1757–1827) said by 1827 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Letters Of William Blake (1956), p. 50
“I am not ashamed, afraid, or averse to tell you what Ought to be Told: That I am under the direction of Messengers from Heaven, Daily & Nightly;”
William Blake (1757–1827) said by 1827 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Letters Of William Blake (1956), p. 70
“And now let me finish with assuring you that, Tho I have been very unhappy, I am so no longer. I am again. Emerged into the light of day; I still & shall to Eternity Embrace Christianity and Adore him who is the Express image of God; but I have travel'd thro' Perils & Darkness not unlike a Champion. I have Conquer'd, and shall still Go on Conquering. Nothing can withstand the fury of my Course among the Stars of God & in the Abysses of the Accuser. My Enthusiasm is still what it was, only Enlarged and conform'd.”
William Blake (1757–1827) said by 1827 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Letters Of William Blake (1956), p. 74-75
“I have labour'd hard indeed, & have been borne on angel's wings. Till we meet I beg of God our Saviour to be with you & me, & yours & mine. Pray give my & my wife's love to Mrs Butts & Family, & believe me to remain.”
William Blake (1757–1827) said by 1827 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Letters Of William Blake (1956), p. 90
“Degrade first the arts if you'd mankind degrade, Hire idiots to paint with cold light and hot shade.”
William Blake (1757–1827) first seen 1798 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Annotations to Sir Joshua Reynolds's Discourses, title page (c. 1798–1809)
“To Generalize is to be an Idiot. To Particularize is the Alone Distinction of Merit — General Knowledges are those Knowledges that Idiots possess.”
William Blake (1757–1827) first seen 1798 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Annotations to Sir Joshua Reynolds's Discourses, pp. xvii–xcviii (c. 1798–1809)
“The Foundation of Empire is Art & Science Remove them or Degrade them & the Empire is No More — Empire follows Art & Not Vice Versa as Englishmen suppose.”
William Blake (1757–1827) said by 1827 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Rintrah roars and shakes his fires in the burden'd air; Hungry clouds swag on the deep.”
William Blake (1757–1827) said by 1827 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Without contraries there is no progression. Attraction and repulsion, reason and energy, love and hate are necessary to human existence.”
William Blake (1757–1827) said by 1827 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The reason Milton wrote in fetters when he wrote of Angels and God, and at liberty when of Devils and Hell, is because he was a true poet and of the Devils' party without knowing it.”
William Blake (1757–1827) said by 1827 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Those who restrain desire do so because theirs is weak enough to be restrained; and the restrainer or reason usurps its place & governs the unwilling.”
William Blake (1757–1827) said by 1827 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is: infinite.”
William Blake (1757–1827) said by 1827 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The man who never alters his opinion is like standing water, and breeds reptiles of the mind.”
William Blake (1757–1827) said by 1827 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Opposition is true Friendship.”
William Blake (1757–1827) said by 1827 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom.”
William Blake (1757–1827) said by 1827 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He who desires but acts not breeds pestilence.”
William Blake (1757–1827) said by 1827 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees. He whose face gives no light shall never become a star.”
William Blake (1757–1827) said by 1827 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Eternity is in love with the productions of time.”
William Blake (1757–1827) said by 1827 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The busy bee has no time for sorrow.”
William Blake (1757–1827) said by 1827 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source