William Blake Quotes

When Sir Joshua Reynolds died All Nature was degraded

Let the men do their duty & the women will be such wonders; the female life lives from the light of the male: see a man's female dependants, you know the man.

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?

Little Lamb, who made thee? Dost thou know who made thee?

Men are admitted into heaven not because they have curbed or governed their passions, but because they have cultivate their understandings.

The child's toys and the old man's reasons are the fruits of two seasons.

The atoms of Democritus And Newton's particles of light Are sands upon the Red Sea shore, Where Israel's tents do shine so bright.

If others had not been foolish, we should be so.

Although wine when it is read somewhat lacks the savour of wine when it is drunk, wine remains a very pleasant thing both to read about and to chat about.

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.

And I made a rural pen, And I stained the water clear, And I wrote my happy songs Every Child may joy to hear.

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.

Imitation is criticism.

I care not whether a man is good or evil; all that I care / Is whether he is a wise man or a fool. Go! put off holiness, / And put on intellect.

Where others see but the dawn coming over the hill, I see the soul of God shouting for joy.

Why cannot the ear be closed to its own destruction? Or the glistening eye to the poison of a smile?

Mutual forgiveness of each vice. Such are the Gates of Paradise.

The Errors of a Wise Man make your Rule Rather than the Perfections of a Fool.

Can I see a falling tear, And not feel my sorrow's share?

One law for the lion and ox is oppression.

The ruins of time build mansions in eternity.

The Whole Business of Man is The Arts, & All Things Common.

Art degraded, Imagination denied.

Everything is beautiful in its own way. Exuberance is beauty.

Naught can deform the human race Like to the armor's iron brace.

We are led to believe a lie When we see not through the eye.

Little fly, thy summer's play My thoughtless hand has brushed away. Am not I a fly like thee? Or art not thou a man like me? For I dance and drink and sing, Till some blind hand shall brush my wing!

Demonstration, similitude & harmony are objects of reasoning. Invention, identity & melody are objects of intuition.

Innate ideas are in every man, born with him; they are truly himself. The man who says that we have no innate ideas must be a fool and knave, having no conscience or innate science.

Nature has no outline. Imagination has.

She who dwells with me whom I have loved with such communion, that no place on earth can ever be solitude to me.

Every tear from every eyeBecomes a babe in eternity.

The lust of the goat is the bounty of God.

I love hanging and drawing and quartering Every bit as well as war and slaughtering.

The wrath of the lion is the wisdom of God.

The little ones leaped, and shouted, and laugh'd And all the hills echoed

Painters are noted for being dissipated and wild.

Praises reap not! Joys laugh not! Sorrows weep not!

The fox provides for himself, but God provides for the lion.

A mystic is a man who separates heaven and earth even if he enjoys them both.

The stars are threshed, and the souls are threshed from their husks.

He who has few things to desire cannot have many to fear.

Knowledge of ideal beauty is not to be acquired. It is born with us. Innate ideas are in every man, born with him; theyare truly himself.

Mercy, Pity, Peace Is the world's release.

I am under the direction of messengers from Heaven daily and nightly.

Where any view of money exists, art cannot be carried on.

He who makes his law a curse, by his own law shall surely die.

Without contraries there is no progression.

Forgive what you do not approve & love me for this energetic exertion of my talent

Joy and woe are woven fine.