Selected Quotes by William Blake
William Blake- (November 28, 1757 – August 12, 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. He was largely unrecognised during his life, but he is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual art of the Romantic Age. What he called his "prophetic works" were described by 20th-century critic Northrop Frye to form "what is in proportion to its merits the least read body of poetry in the English language". 21st-century critic Jonathan Jones described his visual artistry as: "far and away the greatest artist Britain has ever produced".
In 2002, he was placed by a BBC poll at number 38 among the 100 Greatest Britons. Though he lived in London his entire life, except for three years spent in Felpham, he was able to produce a diverse and symbolically rich collection of works embracing his imagination as "the body of God" or "human existence itself".
Although he was considered mad by contemporaries for his idiosyncratic views, he came to be highly regarded by later critics and readers for his expressiveness and creativity as well as for the philosophical and mystical undercurrents within his work. His paintings and poetry have been characterized as part of the Romantic movement and as "Pre-Romantic". He is even considered "a key early proponent of both Romanticism and Nationalism".
He was a committed Christian but was hostile to the Church of England or to almost all forms of organized religion). He was influenced by the ideals and ambitions of the French and American revolutions, although he later rejected many of these political beliefs. He maintained an amiable relationship with the political activist Thomas Paine. He was also influenced by thinkers such as Emanuel Swedenborg. Despite these, the singularity of his work makes him difficult to classify. The 19th-century scholar William Michael Rossetti characterized him as a "glorious luminary", and "a man not forestalled by predecessors, nor to be classed with contemporaries, nor to be replaced by known or readily surmissable successors".
Selected Quotes by William Blake:
“When I tell the truth, it is not for the sake of convincing those who do not know it, but for the sake of defending those that do.”
William Blake, Truth
“Truth can never be told so as to be understood and not be believed.”
William Blake, Truth
“A truth that's told with bad intent
Beats all the lies you can invent.”
― William Blake, Auguries of Innocence
William Blake, Truth
“It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend.”
William Blake, Friendship
“Those who control their passions do so because their passions are weak enough to be controlled.”
William Blake, Life
“The tigers of wrath are wiser than the horses of instruction.”
― William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
William Blake, Life
“He who desires, but acts not, breeds pestilence.”
William Blake, Life
“Expect poison from the standing water.”
― William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
William Blake, Life
“Imagination is the real and eternal world of which this vegetable universe is but a faint shadow.”
William Blake, Life
“Exuberance is beauty.”
― William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
William Blake, Life
“Great things are done when men and mountains meet.”
William Blake, Life
“A man can't soar too high, when he flies with his own wings.”
William Blake, Life
“My mother groaned, my father wept, into the dangerous world I leapt.”
William Blake, Life
“He whose face gives no light, shall never become a star.”
William Blake, Life
“The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom...You never know what is enough until you know what is more than enough.”
― William Blake, Proverbs of Hell
William Blake, Life
“Without contraries is no progression. Attraction and repulsion, reason and energy, love and hate, are necessary to human existence.”
― William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
William Blake, Life
“Every Night and every Morn
Some to Misery are born.
Every Morn and every Night
Some are born to Sweet Delight,
Some are born to Endless Night.”
William Blake, Life
“You never know what is enough unless you know what is more than enough.”
― William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
William Blake, Life
“In the universe, there are things that are known, and things that are unknown, and in between, there are doors.”
William Blake, Life
“The man who never alters his opinion is like standing water, and breeds reptiles of the mind.”
― William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
William Blake, Life
“The imagination is not a state: it is the human existence itself.”
William Blake, Life
“What is now proved was once only imagined.”
William Blake, Life
“Those who restrain desire do so because theirs is weak enough to be restrained.”
― William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
William Blake, Life
“If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, Infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things thro' narrow chinks of his cavern.”
― William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
William Blake, Life
“Enlightenment means taking full responsibility for your life.”
William Blake, Life
“Man was made for joy and woe
Then when this we rightly know
Through the world we safely go.
Joy and woe are woven fine
A clothing for the soul to bind.”
William Blake, Life
“This life's dim windows of the soul
Distorts the heavens from pole to pole
And leads you to believe a lie
When you see with, not through, the eye.”
William Blake, Life, Truth
“And we are put on this earth a little space that we might learn to bear the beams of love.”
William Blake, Life, Love
“Love seeketh not itself to please, nor for itself hath any care, but for another gives its ease, and builds a Heaven in Hell's despair.”
― William Blake, Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience
William Blake, Love
“If a thing loves, it is infinite.”
William Blake, Love
“The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way. Some see nature all ridicule and deformity... and some scarce see nature at all. But to the eyes of the man of imagination, nature is imagination itself.”
William Blake, Nature
“Can I see anothers woe,
And not be in sorrow too.
Can I see anothers grief,
And not seek for kind relief.
- On Anothers Sorrow”
― William Blake, Songs of Innocence and of Experience
William Blake, Goals
“For I dance
And drink and sing,
Till some blind hand shall brush my wing.
William Blake, Goals
“To see a World in a grain of sand,
And a Heaven in a wild flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand,
And Eternity in an hour.”
― William Blake, Auguries of Innocence
William Blake, Goals
“Better to shun the bait than struggle in the snare.”
William Blake, Goals
“Think in the morning. Act in the noon. Eat in the evening. Sleep in the night.”
― William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
William Blake, Goals
“For all eternity, I forgive you and you forgive me.”
William Blake, Goals
“I must create a system, or be enslaved by another man's. I will not reason and compare: my business is to create.”
― William Blake, Jerusalem: The Emanation of the Giant Albion
William Blake, Goals
“To generalize is to be an idiot.”
William Blake, Intelligence/Wisdom
“Eternity is in love with the productions of time.”
William Blake, Time
“I was angry with my friend:
I told my wrath, my wrath did end.
I was angry with my foe;
I told it not, my wrath did grow.
And I water'd it in fears,
Night & morning with my tears;
And I sunnéd it with smiles
And with soft deceitful wiles.
And it grew both day and night,
Till it bore an apple bright;
And my foe beheld it shine,
And he knew that it was mine,
And into my garden stole,
When the night had veil'd the pole:
In the morning glad I see
My foe outstretch'd beneath the tree.”
― William Blake, Songs of Experience
William Blake, Anger and Fighting
Then am I
A happy fly
If I live
Or if I die.”
William Blake, Happiness
“Excessive sorrow laughs. Excessive joy weeps.”
William Blake, Happiness
“He who binds to himself a joy
Does the winged life destroy;
But he who kisses the joy as it flies
Lives in eternity's sun rise.”
William Blake, Happiness
“How can a bird that is born for joy
Sit in a cage and sing?”
William Blake, Happiness, Freedom
“The most sublime act is to set another before you.”
William Blake, Kindness
“A good local pub has much in common with a church, except that a pub is warmer, and there's more conversation.”