William Blake Quotes (334 Quotes)


    When Sir Joshua Reynolds died All Nature was degraded The King dropped a tear in the Queen's ear, And all his pictures faded.

    Christianity is art and not money. Money is its curse.

    Thinking as I do that the Creator of this world is a very cruel being, and being a worshipper of Christ, I cannot help saying ''the Son, O how unlike the Father'' First God Almighty comes with a thump on the head. Then Jesus Christ comes with a balm to heal it.

    The man who never in his mind and thoughts travel'd to heaven is no artist.



    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.

    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.

    I feel that a Man may be happy in This World. And I know that This World Is a World of Imagination Vision.

    Commerce is so far from being beneficial to arts, or to empire, that it is destructive of both, as all their history shows, for the above reason of individual merit being its great hatred. Empires flourish till they become commercial, and then they are scattered abroad to the four winds.

    For everything exists and not one sigh nor smile nor tear, one hair nor particle of dust, not one can pass away.

    The eagle never lost so much time as when he submitted to learn from the crow.

    Thy friendship oft has made my heart to ache do be my enemy for friendship's sake.

    What is it men in women do require The lineaments of gratified desire. What is it women do in men require The lineaments of gratified desire.


    When the doors of perception are cleansed, man will see things as they truly are, infinite.

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

    He who shall hurt the little wren Shall never be beloved by men.

    The soul of sweet delight, can never be defiled.

    Abstinence sows sand all over; The ruddy limbs flaming hair, But Desire Gratified; Plants fruits of life beauty there.

    O why was I born with a different face Why was I not born like the rest of my race

    Little Fly, Thy summers play My thoughtless hand Has brushed away. Am I not 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.

    Then my verse I dishonor, my pictures despise, my person degrade and my temper chastise and the pen is my terror, the pencil my shame and my talents I bury, and dead is my fame.

    Some will say, Is not God alone the Prolific I answer, God only Acts Is, in existing beings or Men.

    The whore and gambler, by the state licensed, build that nation's fate. The harlot's cry from street to street shall weave England's winding sheet.



    When thou seest an eagle, thou seest a portion of genius lift up thy head

    He whose face gives no light, shall never become a star.

    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 the man hath, his house, his wife, his children.

    When a man has married a wife, he finds out whether Her knees and elbows are only glued together.

    The Man who pretends to be a modest enquirer into the truth of a self evident thing is a Knave.

    Great things are done when men and mountains meet.

    A petty sneaking thief I knew - O Mr Cr-, how do you do

    Father father where are you going O do not walk so fast. Speak, father, speak to your little boy, Or else I shall be lost.


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

    Want of money and the distress of a thief can never be alleged as the cause of his thieving, for many honest people endure greater hardships with fortitude. We must therefore seek the cause elsewhere than in want of money, for that is the miser's passion, not the thief s.

    The gulfing whale was like a dot in the spell. Yet look upon it, and 'twould size and swell To its huge self, and the minutest fish Would pass the very hardest gazer's wish, And show his little eye's anatomy.


    The path of excess leads to the tower of wisdom.



    To generalize is to be an idiot. To particularize is the alone distinction of merit. General knowledge are those knowledge that idiots possess.

    He who has suffered you to impose on him knows you.

    You smile with pomp and rigor, you talk of benevolence and virtue I act with benevolence and virtue and get murdered time after time.





    Does the Eagle know what is in the pit Or wilt thou go ask the Mole Can Wisdom be put in a silver rod, Or Love in a golden bowl.


    Related Authors


    Rabindranath Tagore - Lord Byron - John Keats - Homer - Thomas Middleton - Samuel Taylor Coleridge - Max Jacob - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow - Edward Young - Andrew Lang


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