Who is William Blake
William Blake was born on the 28th November 1757 and whilst relatively unknown during his own lifetime, he was a poet and painter who is considered one of the leading figures in poetry and artwork in the Romantic Age.
Blake’s poetry is still viewed as underappreciated and least read when considering the high quality of work and he has often been mentioned in the top Britons, with a BBC poll placing him at number 38. An art critic called Jonathan Jones even went as far as suggesting he is the greatest artist ever to come from Great Britain.
His work was one of creativity and expressiveness, incorporating mystical notions and philosophy into his work at the same time. It has been hard to classify his work, as despite his influences, he stands alone from those before and those after him. His work is traditionally linked to the Romantic movement and despite being a Christian, he rejected the church in many ways and drew influence from revolutions in the United States and France, as well as individuals such as Emanuel Swedenborg.
William Blake Quotes
1. “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.”
2. “It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend.”
3. “A truth that’s told with bad intent, Beats all the lies you can invent.”
4. “If a thing loves, it is infinite.”
5. “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.”
6. “Tyger! Tyger! burning bright, In the forests of the night, What immortal hand or eye, Could frame thy fearful symmetry?”
7. “Those who restrain desire do so because theirs is weak enough to be restrained.”
8. “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.”
9. “What is now proved was once only imagined.”
10. “The imagination is not a state: it is the human existence itself.”
11. “I must create a system, or be enslaved by another man’s. I will not reason and compare: my business is to create.”
12. “The man who never alters his opinion is like standing water, and breeds reptiles of the mind.”
13. “To generalize is to be an idiot.”
14. “The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom.”
15. “In the universe, there are things that are known, and things that are unknown, and in between, there are doors.”
16. “The glory of Christianity is to conquer by forgiveness.”
17. “You never know what is enough unless you know what is more than enough.”
18. “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.”
19. “Eternity is in love with the productions of time.”
20. “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.”
21. “I was walking among the fires of Hell, delighted with the enjoyments of Genius; which to Angels look like torment and insanity.”
22. “Truth can never be told so as to be understood and not be believed.”
23. “He who kisses joy as it flies by will live in eternity’s sunrise.”
24. “If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is – infinite.”
25. “For all eternity, I forgive you and you forgive me.”
26. “Without contraries is no progression. Attraction and repulsion, reason and energy, love and hate, are necessary to human existence.”
27. “He whose face gives no light, shall never become a star.”
28. “My mother groaned, my father wept, into the dangerous world I leapt.”
29. “Excessive sorrow laughs. Excessive joy weeps.”
30. “The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom…You never know what is enough until you know what is more than enough.”
31. “A man can’t soar too high, when he flies with his own wings.”
32. “Improvement makes strait roads, but the crooked roads without Improvement, are roads of Genius.”
33. “Great things are done when men and mountains meet.”
34. “Think in the morning. Act in the noon. Eat in the evening. Sleep in the night.”
35. “The most sublime act is to set another before you.”
36. “A good local pub has much in common with a church, except that a pub is warmer, and there’s more conversation. ”
37. “And we are put on this earth a little space that we might learn to bear the beams of love.”
38. “Some are born to sweet delight, Some are born to endless night.”
39. “Better to shun the bait than struggle in the snare.”
40. “For every thing that lives is Holy.”
41. “Exuberance is beauty.”
42. “Imagination is the real and eternal world of which this vegetable universe is but a faint shadow.”
43. “Enlightenment means taking full responsibility for your life.”
44. “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.”
45. “The fool who persists in his folly will become wise.”
46. “The tigers of wrath are wiser than the horses of instruction.”
47. “Those who control their passions do so because their passions are weak enough to be controlled.”
48. “He who desires, but acts not, breeds pestilence.”
49. “Everything to be imagined is an image of truth.”
50. “How can a bird that is born for joy, Sit in a cage and sing?”
51. “Never seek to tell thy love; Love that never told can be. For the gentle wind does move silently.. invisibly.”
52. “If the Sun and Moon should ever doubt, they’d immediately go out.”
53. “Prisons are built with stones of Law, Brothels with bricks of Religion”
54. “The lamb misused breeds public strife, And yet forgives the butcher’s knife.”
55. “Knowledge is Life with wings”
56. “The eagle never lost so much time as when he submitted to learn of the crow”
57. “A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees.”
58. “I will not reason and compare my business is to create.”
59. “Without contraries there is no progression.”
60. “When a sinister person means to be your enemy, they always start by trying to become your friend”
