English poet & painter (1757-1827)
Improvement makes straight roads; but the crooked roads without improvement are roads of genius.
WILLIAM BLAKE
Proverbs of Hell
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
"The Voice of the Devil", The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
Every Harlot was a Virgin once.
WILLIAM BLAKE
For the Sexes: The Gates of Paradise
Where lambs have nibbled, silent moves
The feet of angels bright;
Unseen they pour blessing,
And joy without ceasing,
On each bud and blossom,
And each sleeping bosom.
WILLIAM BLAKE
Night
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
"The Divine Image", Songs of Innocence
Eternity is before me like a dark lamp.
WILLIAM BLAKE
Vala
God appears and god is light
To those poor souls who dwell in night
But does a human form display
To those who dwell in realms of day.
WILLIAM BLAKE
Auguries of Innocence
But to the Eyes of the Man of Imagination, Nature is Imagination itself. As a man is, So he Sees. As the Eye is formed, such are its Powers.
WILLIAM BLAKE
letter to Rev. Dr. Trusler, August 23, 1799
The true method of knowledge is experiment.
WILLIAM BLAKE
All Religions are One
To Generalize is to be an Idiot. To Particularize is the Alone Distinction of Merit.
WILLIAM BLAKE
Annotations to Sir Joshua Reynolds's Discourses
Everything possible to be believ'd is an image of truth.
WILLIAM BLAKE
"Proverbs of Hell", The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
The weak in courage is strong in cunning.
WILLIAM BLAKE
Proverbs of Hell
O Autumn, laden with fruit, and stain'd
With the blood of the grape, pass not, but sit
Beneath my shady roof, there thou mayest rest,
And tune thy jolly voice to my fresh pipe,
And all the daughters of the year shall dance!
Sing now the lusty song of fruits and flowers.
WILLIAM BLAKE
"To Autumn"
For a tear is an intellectual thing,
And a sigh is the sword of an Angel King,
And the bitter groan of the martyr's woe
Is an arrow from the Almighty's bow.
WILLIAM BLAKE
"The Gray Monk", Poems from the Pickering Manuscript
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
"To the Muses", Poetical Sketches
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
"London", Songs of Experience
He who would do good to another must do it in Minute Particulars;
General Good is the plea of the scoundrel, hypocrite, and flatterer.
WILLIAM BLAKE
Jerusalem
Sleep, sleep, beauty bright,
Dreaming o'er the joys of night.
Sleep, sleep: in thy sleep
Little sorrows sit and weep.
WILLIAM BLAKE
"A Cradle Song", Poems from Blake's Notebook
A dog starved at his master's gate
Predicts the ruin of the state.
WILLIAM BLAKE
Auguries of Innocence
Angels are happier than men and devils, because they are not always prying after good and evil in one another, and eating the tree of knowledge for Satan's gratification.
WILLIAM BLAKE
"A Vision of the Last Judgement"