Quotes: William Blake

William Blake in a portrait
by Thomas Phillips (1807)

“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


“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


“A truth that's told with bad intent
Beats all the lies you can invent.”
― William Blake, Auguries of Innocence


“It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend.”
― William Blake


“If a thing loves, it is infinite.”
― William Blake


“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


“Those who restrain desire do so because theirs is weak enough to be restrained.”
― William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell


“The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom.”
― William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell


“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


“I must create a system, or be enslaved by another man's.”
― William Blake


“The imagination is not a state: it is the human existence itself.”
― William Blake


“The glory of Christianity is to conquer by forgiveness.”
― William Blake


“Eternity is in love with the productions of time.”
― William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell


“The man who never alters his opinion is like standing water, and breeds reptiles of the mind.”
― William Blake


“What is now proved was once only imagined.”
― William Blake


“Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?”
― William Blake


“Truth can never be told so as to be understood and not be believed.”
― William Blake


“For all eternity, I forgive you and you forgive me.”
― William Blake


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


“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


“He who kisses joy as it flies by will live in eternity's sunrise.”
― William Blake


“In the universe, there are things that are known, and things that are unknown, and in between, there are doors.”
― William Blake


“A man can't soar too high, when he flies with his own wings.”
― William Blake


“He whose face gives no light, shall never become a star.”
― William Blake


“THE POISON TREE

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 sunned it with my 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


“Without contraries is no progression. Attraction and repulsion, reason and energy, love and hate, are necessary to human existence.”
― William Blake

“You never know what is enough unless you know what is more than enough.”
― William Blake


“You never know what is enough unless you know what is more than enough.”
― William Blake


“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, Songs of Experience



“I was walking among the fires of Hell, delighted with the enjoyments of Genius; which to Angels look like torment and insanity.”
― William Blake


“My mother groaned, my father wept,
into the dangerous world I leapt.”
― William Blake


“Improvement makes strait roads, but the crooked roads without Improvement, are roads of Genius.”
― William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell


That the Jews assumed a right exclusively to the benefits of God will be a lasting witness against them and the same will it be against Christians.
Blake, William


The inquiry in England is not whether a man has talents and genius, but whether he is passive and polite and a virtuous ass and obedient to noblemen's opinions in art and science. If he is, he is a good man. If not, he must be starved. - Blake, William

.........................................

“The most sublime act is to set another before you.”
― William Blake
tags: self-sacrifice


“If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is - infinite.”
― William Blake


“And we are put on this earth a little space that we might learn to bear the beams of love”
― William Blake


“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.”
― William Blake


“Think in the morning. Act in the noon. Eat in the evening. Sleep in the night.”
― William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell


“For I dance
And drink and sing,
Till some blind hand Shall brush my wing.

If thought is life
And strength and breath
And the want
Of thought is death

Then am I
A happy fly
If I live
Or if I die”
― William Blake


“Exuberance is beauty.”
― William Blake


“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


“Better to shun the bait than struggle in the snare.”
― William Blake


“Never seek to tell thy love; Love that never told can be. For the gentle wind does move silently.. invisibly.”
― William Blake


“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


“I will not reason and compare my business is to create.”
― William Blake


“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


“Some are born to sweet delight, Some are born to endless night.”
― William Blake


“A Robin Redbreast in a Cage
Puts all Heaven in a Rage.
A dove house fill’d with doves and pigeons
Shudders Hell thro’ all its regions.
A Dog starv’d at his Master’s Gate
Predicts the ruin of the State.
A Horse misus’d upon the Road
Calls to Heaven for Human blood.
Each outcry of the hunted Hare
A fiber from the Brain does tear.”
― William Blake


“Everything to be imagined is an image of truth.”
― William Blake


“For every thing that lives is Holy.”
― William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell


“The tigers of wrath are wiser than the horses of instruction.”
― William Blake, Songs of Innocence and of Experience


“Imagination is the real and eternal world of which this vegetable universe is but a faint shadow.”
― William Blake


“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


“Those who control their passions do so because their passions are weak enough to be controlled.”
― 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


“If the Sun and Moon should ever doubt, they'd immediately go out.”
― William Blake



“Knowledge is Life with wings”
― William Blake


“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


“Prisons are built with stones of Law, Brothels with bricks of Religion”
― William Blake


................................

“He who desires, but acts not, breeds pestilence.”
― William Blake


“The Prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel dined with me, and I asked them how they dared so roundly to assert, that God spoke to them; and whether they did not think at the time, that they would be misunderstood, and so be the cause of imposition.

Isaiah answer'd, I saw no God, nor heard any, in a finite organical perception; but my senses discover'd the infinite in every thing, and as I was then persuaded, & remain confirm'd; that the voice of honest indignation is the voice of God, I cared not for consequences but wrote.”
― William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell


“For Mercy has a human heart
Pity, a human face:
And Love, the human form divine,
And Peace, the human dress.”
― William Blake, Songs of Innocence and of Experience


“Mercy is the golden chain by which society is bound together.”
― William Blake


“The crow wished everything was black, the Owl, that everything was white.”
― William Blake


“Energy is eternal delight.”
― William Blake


“LOVE'S SECRET

Never seek to tell thy love,
Love that never told can be;
For the gentle wind doth move
Silently, invisibly.

I told my love, I told my love,
I told her all my heart,
Trembling, cold, in ghastly fears.
Ah! she did depart!

Soon after she was gone from me,
A traveller came by,
Silently, invisibly:
He took her with a sigh.”
― William Blake


“How can a bird that is born for joy
Sit in a cage and sing?”
― William Blake


“The lamb misused breeds public strife
And yet forgives the butcher's knife.”
― William Blake


“What is grand is necessarily obscure to weak men. That which can be made explicit to the idiot is not worth my care.”
― William Blake


“thus men forgot that all deities reside in the human breast.”
― William Blake


“Opposition is true Friendship.”
― William Blake, The Portable Blake


“Both read the Bible day and night,
But thou read'st black where I read white.”
― William Blake


“Sooner strangle an infant in its cradle than nurse unacted desires.”
― William Blake


“The Fly

Little Fly
Thy summers play,
My thoughtless hand
Has brush'd away.

Am not I
A fly like thee?
Or art not thou
A man like me?

For I dance
And drink & sing:
Till some blind hand
Shall brush my wing.

If thought is life
And strength & breath:
And the want
Of thought is death;

Then am I
A happy fly,
If I live,
Or if I die”
― William Blake, Songs of Innocence and of Experience


“A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees.”
― William Blake


“Each man must create his own system or else he is a slave to another mans”
― William Blake


“The weak in courage is strong in cunning.”
― William Blake


“Expect poison from the standing water.”
― William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell


“The eagle never lost so much time as when he submitted to learn of the crow”
― William Blake


“Jerusalem (1804)
And did those feet in ancient time
Walk upon England's mountains green
And was the holy lamb of God
On England's pleasant pastures seen

And did the countenance divine
Shine forth upon our clouded hills
And was Jerusalem builded here
Among those dark Satanic mills

Bring me my bow of burning gold
Bring me my arrows of desire
Bring me my spears o'clouds unfold
Bring me my chariot of fire

I will not cease from mental fight
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand
'Til we have built Jerusalem
In England's green and pleasant land”
― William Blake


“Make your own rules or be a slave to another man's.”
― William Blake


“And is he honest who resists his genius or conscience only for the sake of present ease or gratification”
― William Blake


“A DIVINE IMAGE

Cruelty has a human heart,
And Jealousy a human face;
Terror the human form divine,
And Secresy the human dress.

The human dress is forged iron,
The human form a fiery forge,
The human face a furnace sealed,
The human heart its hungry gorge.”
― William Blake


“I will not cease from mental fight
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand.”
― William Blake


“Then cherish pity, lest you drive an angel from your door.”
― William Blake, Songs of Innocence and of Experience


“Children of the future age
Reading this indignant page
Know that in a former time
Love, sweet love, was thought a crime”
― William Blake


“Dip him in the river who loves water.”
― William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell



“The Sick Rose

O Rose, thou art sick.
The invisible worm
That flies in the night
In the howling storm

Has found out thy bed
Of crimson joy,
And his dark secret love
Does thy life destroy.”
― William Blake










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“The fool who persists in his folly will become wise.”
― William Blake, The Complete Poetry and Prose



“When the stars threw down their spears, and watered heaven with their tears, did he smile his work to see? Did he who made the Lamb make thee?”
― William Blake, Songs of Innocence and of Experience


“I myself do nothing. The Holy Spirit accomplishes all through me.”
― William Blake



“Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare sieze the fire?


And what shoulder, & what art.
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? & what dread feet?


What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?


When the stars threw down their spears,
And watered heaven with their tears,
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?


Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?”
― William Blake


“And I watered it in fears,
Night and morning with my tears;
And I sunned it with smiles,
And with soft deceitful wiles.”
― William Blake


“He who replies to words of doubt
doth put the light of knowledge out.”
― William Blake, Auguries of Innocence


“The prince's robes and beggar's rags,
Are toadstools on the miser's bags.
A truth that's told with bad intent,
Beats all the lies you can invent”
― William Blake, Auguries of Innocence



“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.
A robin redbreast in a cage
Puts all heaven in a rage.
A dove-house filled with doves and pigeons
Shudders hell through all its regions.”
― William Blake, Auguries of Innocence
tags: interesting 11 people liked it like
“But to go to school in a summer morn,
O! It drives all joy away;
Under a cruel eye outworn,
The little ones spend the day
In sighing and dismay.”
― William Blake




“Oh! why was I born with a different face? why was I not born like the rest of my race? when
I look,each one starts! when I speak, I offend; then Im silent & passive & lose every friend. Then
my verse I dishonour, my pictures despise, my person degrade & my temper chastise; and the pen is my terror, the pencil my shame; all my talents I bury, and dead is my fame. Im either too low or too highly prized; when elate I m envy'd, when meek Im despis'd”
― William Blake



“I know it's long, but the whole thing is my favorite literary anything--it's from "The Four Zoas"

I am made to sow the thistle for wheat; the nettle for a nourishing dainty
I have planted a false oath in the earth, it has brought forth a poison tree
I have chosen the serpent for a councellor & the dog for a schoolmaster to my children
I have blotted out from light & living the dove & the nightingale
And I have caused the earthworm to beg from door to door
I have taught the thief a secret path into the house of the just
I have taught pale artifice to spread his nets upon the morning
My heavens are brass my earth is iron my moon a clod of clay
My sun a pestilence burning at noon & a vapor of death in night

What is the price of Experience do men buy it for a song
Or wisdom for a dance in the street? No it is bought with the price
Of all that a man hath his house his wife his children
Wisdom is sold in the desolate market where none come to buy
And in the withered field where the farmer plows for bread in vain

It is an easy thing to triumph in the summers sun
And in the vintage & to sing on the waggon loaded with corn
It is an easy thing to talk of patience to the afflicted
To speak the laws of prudence to the houseless wanderer
To listen to the hungry ravens cry in wintry season
When the red blood is filled with wine & with the marrow of lambs
It is an easy thing to laugh at wrathful elements
To hear a dog howl at the wintry door, the ox in the slaughter house moan
To see a god on every wind & a blessing on every blast
To hear the sounds of love in the thunder storm that destroys our enemies house
To rejoice in the blight that covers his field, & the sickness that cuts off his children

While our olive & vine sing & laugh round our door & our children bring fruits and flowers
Then the groans & the dolor are quite forgotten & the slave grinding at the mill
And the captive in chains & the poor in the prison, & the soldier in the field
When the shattered bone hath laid him groaning among the happier dead

It is an easy thing to rejoice in the tents of prosperity
Thus could I sing & thus rejoice, but it is not so with me!”
― William Blake


“I must Create a System or be enslav'd by another Man's.
I will not Reason Compare: my business is to Create.”
― William Blake


“Men are admitted into heaven not because they have curbed and governed their passions or have no passions, but because they have cultivated their understandings. The treasures of heaven are not negations of passion, but realities of intellect, from which all the passions emanate uncurbed in their eternal glory.”
― William Blake


“Thy friendship oft has made my heart to ache: do be my enemy for friendship's sake.”
― William Blake


“The Devil answer'd: bray a fool in a morter with wheat, yet shall not his folly be beaten out of him; if Jesus Christ is the greatest man, you ought to love him in the greatest degree; now hear how he has given his sanction to the law of ten commandments: did he not mock at the sabbath, and so mock the sabbaths God? murder those who were murder'd because of him? turn away the law from the woman taken in adultery? steal the labor of others to support him? bear false witness when he omitted making a defense before Pilate? covet when he pray'd for his disciples, and when he bid them shake off the dust of their feet against such as refused to lodge them? I tell you, no virtue can exist without breaking these ten commandments; Jesus was all virtue, and acted from impulse, not from rules.”
― William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell


“The eye altering, alters all.”
― William Blake


“I went to the Garden of Love
And saw what I never had seen;
A chapel was built in the midst,
Where I used to play in the green

And the gates of this chapel were shut,
And 'Thou shalt not' writ over the door,
So I turned to the garden of Love,
That so many sweet flowers bore,

And I saw it was filled with graves,
And tomb-stones where flowers should be:
And priests in black gowns were walking their rounds,
And binding with briars my joys and desires.”
― William Blake



“In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy.”
― William Blake


“And priests in black gowns were walking their rounds and binding with briars my joys and desires. (from 'The Garden of Love')”
― William Blake, Songs of Innocence and of Experience



“For Mercy has a human heart;
Pity, a human face;
And Love, the human form divine:
And Peace the human dress.


Songs of Innocence

Cruelty has a human heart
And jealousy a human face,
Terror the human form divine,
And secrecy the human dress.

The human dress is forged iron,
The human form a fiery forge,
The human face a furnace seal'd,
The human heart its hungry gorge.

Songs of Experience - This poem was discovered posthumously.”
― William Blake


“When nations grow old the Arts grow cold
And commerce settles on every tree”
― William Blake


“How can the bird that is born for joy
Sit in a cage and sing?
How can a child, when fears annoy,
But droop his tender wing,
And forget his youthful spring?”
― William Blake, Songs of Innocence and of Experience


“Sweet babe, in thy face Soft desires I can trace, Secret joys and secret smiles, Little pretty infant wiles.”
― William Blake


“What is the price of Experience? Do men buy it for a song?
Or wisdom for a dance in the street? No, it is bought with the price
Of all that a man hath, his house, his wife, his children
Wisdom is sold in the desolate market where none come to buy
And in the wither'd field where the farmer ploughs for bread in vain

It is an easy thing to triumph in the summer's sun
And in the vintage and to sing on the waggon loaded with corn
It is an easy thing to talk of patience to the afflicted
To speak the laws of prudence to the homeless wanderer
To listen to the hungry raven's cry in wintry season
When the red blood is fill'd with wine and with the marrow of lambs

It is an easy thing to laugh at wrathful elements
To hear the dog howl at the wintry door, the ox in the slaughterhouse moan;
To see a god on every wind and a blessing on every blast
To hear sounds of love in the thunderstorm that destroys our enemies' house;
To rejoice in the blight that covers his field and the sickness that cuts off his children
While our olive and vine sing and laugh round our door and our children bring fruits and flowers

Then the groan and the dolour are quite forgotten and the slave grinding at the mill
And the captive in chains and the poor in the prison and the soldier in the field
When the shatter'd bone hath laid him groaning among the happier dead
It is an easy thing to rejoice in the tents of prosperity:
Thus could I sing and thus rejoice: but it is not so with me.”
― William Blake


“Think in the morning, act in the noon, read in the evening, and sleep at night.”
― William Blake


“The apple tree never asks the beech how he shall grow, nor the lion, the horse, how he shall take his prey.”
― William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell


“Can I see another's woe,
And not be in sorrow too?
Can I see another's grief,
And not seek for kind relief?

Can I see a falling tear,
And not feel my sorrow's share?
Can a father see his child
Weep, nor be with sorrow filled?

Can a mother sit and hear
An infant groan, an infant fear?
No, no! never can it be!
Never, never can it be!”
― William Blake, The Complete Poetry and Prose


“The moon, like a flower in heaven's high bower, with silent delight sits and smiles on the night.”
― William Blake


“It is right it should be so:
Man was made for joy and woe;
And when this we rightly know
Through the world we safely go.”
― William Blake


“How do you know but ev’ry Bird that cuts the airy way,
Is an immense world of delight, clos’d by your senses five?”
― William Blake



“Prudence is a rich, ugly old maid courted by incapacity.”
― William Blake


“May God us keep
From Single vision
and Newton's sleep.”
― William Blake


“He who would do good to another must do it in Minute Particulars; General Good is the plea of the scoundrel, hypocrite and flatterer: For Art and Science cannot exist but in minutely organized Particulars.”
― William Blake


“The bird a nest, the spider a web, man friendship.”
― William Blake


Auguries of innocence

"He who mocks the infant's faith
Shall be mock'd in age and death.
He who shall teach the child to doubt
The rotting grave shall ne'er get out.

He who respects the infant's faith
Triumphs over hell and death.
The child's toys and the old man's reasons
Are the fruits of the two seasons.”
― William Blake


“Enlightenment means taking full responsibility for your life.”
― William Blake


“To cast aside from Poetry, all that is not Inspiration”
― William Blake


“Auguries of innocence
"The emmet's inch and eagle's mile
Make lame philosophy to smile.
He who doubts from what he sees
Will ne'er believe, do what you please.”
― William Blake


“Time is the mercy of Eternity; without Time's swiftness/ Which is the swiftest of all things: all were eternal torment.”
― William Blake, Milton a Poem


“Down the winding cavern we groped our tedious way, till a void boundless as the nether sky appeared beneath us, and we held by the roots of trees and hung over this immensity; but I said: if you please we will commit ourselves to this void and see whether providence is here also.”
― William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell


“The ancient tradition that the world will be consumed in fire at the end of six thousand years is true, as I have heard from Hell.

For the cherub with his flaming sword is hereby commanded to leave his guard at tree of life, and when he does, the whole creation will be consumed, and appear infinite, and holy whereas it now appears finite & corrupt.”
― William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell


“The roaring of lions, the howling of wolves, the raging of the stormy sea, and the destructive sword, are portions of eternity, too great for the eye of man.”
― William Blake


“A robin redbreast in a cage
Puts all heaven in a rage.”
― William Blake


“But when he has done this, let him not say that he knows better than his master, for he only holds a candle in sunshine.”
― William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell


“The busy bee has no time for sorrow.”
― William Blake


“I wander thro' each charter'd street,
Near where the charter'd Thames does flow,
And mark in every face I meet
Marks of weakness, marks of woe.

In every cry of every Man,
In every Infant's cry of fear,
In every voice, in every ban,
The mind-forg'd manacles I hear.

How the Chimney-sweeper's cry
Every black'ning Church appalls;
And the hapless Soldier's sigh
Runs in blood down Palace walls.

But most thro' midnight streets I hear
How the youthful Harlot's curse
Blasts the new born Infant's tear,
And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse.”
― William Blake, Songs of Innocence and of Experience
tags: london 6 people liked it like
“Without contraries there is no progression.”
― William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
5 people liked it like
“If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, Infinite.”
― William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

“I give you the end of a golden string,

Only wind it into a ball,

It will lead you in at Heaven's gate

Built in Jerusalem's wall.”

― William Blake

“Pity would be no more,
If we did not make somebody poor.
Mercy no more could be,
If all were happy as we.”
― William Blake


“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.
And being restrain'd it by degrees becomes passive till it is only the shadow of desire.”
― William Blake



“Every harlot was a virgin once”
― William Blake


“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


“The naked woman’s body is a portion of eternity too great for the eye of man.”
― William Blake


“A dead body revenges not injuries.”
― William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell


“How do you know but ev'ry Bird that cuts the airy way,
Is an immense world of delight, clos'd by your senses five?”
― William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell


“As a man is, so he sees. As the eye is formed, such are its powers.”
― William Blake


“Infant Joy
I have no name
I am but two days old.-
What shall I call thee?
I happy am
Joy is my name,-
Sweet joy befell thee!

Pretty joy!
Sweet joy but two days old.
Sweet joy I call thee:
Thou dost smile.
I sing the while
Sweet joy befell thee.”
― William Blake


“The ancient Poets animated all sensible objects with Gods or Geniuses, calling them by the names and adorning them with the properties of woods, rivers, mountains, lakes, cities, nations, and whatever their enlarged & numerous senses could perceive.
And particularly they studied the genius of each city & country, placing it under its mental deity;
Till a system was formed, which some took advantage of & enslav’d the vulgar by attempting to realize or abstract the mental deities from their objects: thus began Priesthood;
Choosing forms of worship from poetic tales.
And at length they pronounc’d that the Gods had order’d such things.
Thus men forgot that All deities reside in the human breast.”
― William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell


“Truth can never be told so as to be understood, and not be believ'd.”
― William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell


“Auguries of innocence
"It is right it should be so;
Man was made for joy and woe;
And when this we rightly know,
Thro' the world we safely go.

Joy and woe are woven fine,
A clothing for the soul divine.
Under every grief and pine
Runs a joy with silken twine.”
― William Blake


“The cut worm forgives the plow”
― William Blake


“The Learned, who strive to ascend into Heaven by means of learning, appear to Children like dead horses, when repelled by the celestial spheres.”
― William Blake


“What the hammer? What the Chains?
In what furnace was thy brain?
Where the anvil? What dread grasp?
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?”
― William Blake, The Tyger


“What is Above is Within ... the Circumference is Winthin, Without is formed the Selfish Center, and the Circumference still expands going forward to Eternity.”
― William Blake, Jerusalem


“The difference between a good artist and a bad one is: the bad artist seems to copy a great deal, the good one really does.”
― William Blake


“Thou art a man
God is no more
Thy own humanity
Learn to adore”
― William Blake


“Tyger! Tyger! Burning bright in the forests of the night...”
― William Blake


“The following Discourse [on art, by Sir Joshua Reynolds] is particularly Interesting to Blockheads as it endeavours to prove that There is No such thing as Inspiration & that any Man of a plain Understanding may by Thieving from Others become a Mich Angelo.”
― William Blake



“The thankful receiver bears a plentiful harvest.”
― William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell


“Auguries of Innocence

..A robin redbreast in a cage
Puts all heaven in a rage.

A dove-house fill'd with doves and pigeons
Shudders hell thro' all its regions.
A dog starv'd at his master's gate
Predicts the ruin of the state.

A horse misused upon the road
Calls to heaven for human blood.
Each outcry of the hunted hare
A fibre from the brain does tear.

A skylark wounded in the wing,
A cherubim does cease to sing.
The game-cock clipt and arm'd for fight
Does the rising sun affright.

Every wolf's and lion's howl
Raises from hell a human soul.”
― William Blake


“Than you'll see the world as it is : infinte.”
― William Blake


“I must invent my own system or else be enlsaved by other men's.”
― William Blake


“The stars are threshed, and the souls are threshed from their husks.”
― William Blake



“The Holy Word
That walk'd among the ancient trees,

Calling the lapsèd soul,
And weeping in the evening dew;
That might control
The starry pole,
And fallen, fallen light renew!”
― William Blake


“The morning comes, the night decays, the watchmen leave their stations.”
― William Blake


“Enthusiastic admiration is the first principle of knowledge and the last”
― William Blake


“Man has no Body distinct from his soul; for that called Body is a portion of a Soul discerned by the five senses, the chief inlets of Soul in this age.”
― William Blake


“When a sinister person means to be your enemy, they always start by trying to become your friend”
― William Blake


“The mind forg'd manacles I hear.”
― William Blake


“In a wife I would desire / What in whores is always found / The lineaments of gratified desire.”
― William Blake


“Fiery the Angels rose, and as they rose deep thunder roll’d
Around their shores, indignant burning with the fires of Orc…”
― William Blake, Blake's "America: A Prophecy" and "Europe: A Prophecy": Facsimile Reproductions of Two Illuminated Books


“How can the bird that is born for joy
Sit in a cage and sing?”
― William Blake, Songs Of Innocence And Of Experience, And Other Works: With A Selective Appendix Of Shorter Poems From Blake's Manuscripts


“…excuse my enthusiasm or rather madness, for I am really drunk with intellectual vision whenever I take a pencil or graver into my hand.”
― William Blake, William Blake


“That which can be made Explicit to the idiot is not worth my care.”
― William Blake, The Complete Poetry and Prose



If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, Infinite.
For man has closed himself up, till her sees all things throu' narrow chinks of the cavern.
― William Blake



“IV The bounded is loathed by its possessor. The same dull round even of a universe would soon become a mill with complicated wheels.

V If the many become the same as the few, when possess'd, More! More! is the cry of a mistaken soul, less than All cannot satisfy Man.

VI If any could desire what he is incapable of possessing, despair must be his eternal lot.

VII The desire of Man being Infinite the possession is Infinite & himself Infinite.”

― William Blake, The Complete Poetry and Prose


“Damn braces...bless relaxes.”
― William Blake


“If you have form'd a Circle to go into, / Go into it yourself & see how you would do.”
― William Blake


“And did the Countenance Divine,
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here,
Among these dark Satanic Mills?”
― William Blake


“The cistern contains: the fountain overflows.”
― William Blake

“We become what we behold.”
― William Blake, Jerusalem


“To Generalize is to be an Idiot; To Particularize is the Alone Distinction of Merit.”
― William Blake


“Think in the morning. Act in the noon.”
― William Blake


“You cannot have Liberty in this world without what you call Moral Virtue, and you cannot have Moral Virtue without the slavery of that half of the human race who hate what you call Moral Virtue.”
― William Blake


“I said: 'Thou thing of patches, rings,
Pins, necklaces and suchlike things,
Disguiser of the female form,
Thou paltry, gilded poisonous worm!”
― William Blake


“The path of excess leads to the tower of wisdom”
― William Blake


“Without a use this shining woman lived - Or did she only live to be at death the food of worms.”
― William Blake, The Book of Thel


“Pluck thou my flower, Oothoon the mild; Another flower shall spring, because the soul of sweet delight Can never pass away.”
― William Blake, The Book of Thel


“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


“The road of excess lea to the palace of wisdom”
― William Blake



“He who would do good to another must do it in Minute Particulars: General Good is the plea of the scoundrel, hypocrite & flatterer.”
― William Blake


.................................



Sources:

Link: http://quotationsbook.com/quote/16612/#sthash.SEr1oqVx.dpuf ― William Blake

Link: http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/13453.William_Blake

Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Blake