William Blake Quotes

When a sinister person means to be your enemy, they always start by trying to become your friend

~ William Blake

Answer this to yourselves, & expel from among you those who pretend to despise the labours of Art & Science, which alone are the labours of the Gospel: Is not this plain & manifest to the thought? Can you think at all, & not pronounce heartily! That to Labour in Knowledge. is to Build up Jerusalem: and to Despise Knowledge, is to Despise Jerusalem & her Builders. And remember: He who despises & mocks a Mental Gift in another; calling it pride & selfishness & sin; mocks Jesus the giver of every Mental Gift. which always appear to the ignorance-loving Hypocrite, as Sins. but that which is a Sin in the sight of cruel Man. is not so in the sight of our kind God.

~ William Blake

Those who restrain desire do so because theirs is weak enough to be restrained.

~ William Blake

Ah Sun-flower! weary of time,Who countest the steps of the Sun:Seeking after that sweet golden climeWhere the traveller's journey is done. Where the Youth pined away with desire,And the pale Virgin shrouded in snow: Arise from their graves and aspire, Where my Sun-flower wishes to go.

~ 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

The naked woman’s body is a portion of eternity too great for the eye of man.

~ William Blake

For Mercy has a human heart;Pity, a human face;And Love, the human form divine:And Peace the human dress.Songs of InnocenceCruelty has a human heartAnd 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

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 on the green. And the gates of this Chapel were shut, And 'Thou shalt not' writ over the door; So I turn'd 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 & de

~ William Blake

A robin redbreast in a cagePuts all heaven in a rage.A dove-house fill'd with doves and pigeonsShudders hell thro' all its regions.A dog starv'd at his master's gatePredicts the ruin of the state.A horse misused upon the roadCalls to heaven for human blood.Each outcry of the hunted hareA 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 fightDoes the rising sun affright.Every wolf's and lion's howlRaises from hell a human soul.- Auguries of Innocence

~ William Blake

He who mocks the infant's faithShall be mock'd in age and death.He who shall teach the child to doubtThe rotting grave shall ne'er get out.He who respects the infant's faithTriumphs over hell and death.The child's toys and the old man's reasonsAre the fruits of the two seasons.- Auguries of Innocence

~ William Blake

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 pineRuns a joy with silken twine.- Auguries of Innocence

~ William Blake

The emmet's inch and eagle's mileMake lame philosophy to smile.He who doubts from what he seesWill ne'er believe, do what you please.- Auguries of Innocence

~ William Blake

Energy is the only life and is from the Body and Reason is the bound or outward circumference of Energy.

~ William Blake

The reason Milton wrote in fetters when he wrote of Angels & God, and at liberty when of Devils & Hell, is because he was a true Poet and of the Devil's party without knowing it.

~ 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

The man who never alters his opinion is like standing water, and breeds reptiles of the mind.

~ William Blake

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

~ 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

If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is: Infinite.

~ William Blake

Vision is the end of religion.

~ William Blake

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

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

~ William Blake

It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend.

~ William Blake

Imitation is criticism.

~ William Blake

In the universe, there are things that are known, and things that are unknown, and in between them, there are doors.

~ William Blake

Dip him in the river who loves water.

~ William Blake

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

Then cherish pity, lest you drive an angel from your door.

~ William Blake

The man who never alters his opinion is like standing water and breeds reptiles of the mind.

~ William Blake

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

He who desires but acts not breeds pestilence.

~ William Blake

General good is the plea of the scoundrel hypocite flatterer.

~ William Blake

Everything that lives lives not alone nor for itself.

~ William Blake

A truth that's told with bad intent - beats all the lies you can invent.

~ 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

I must create a system or be enslaved by another man's.

~ William Blake

No bird soars too high if he soars on his own wings.

~ William Blake

One thought fills immensity.

~ William Blake

I must create a system or be enslaved by another mans I will not reason and compare: my business is to create.

~ William Blake

If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, infinite.

~ William Blake