William Blake Quotes

Ah, sunflower, weary of time, Who countest the steps of the sun, Seeking after that sweet golden clime Where 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 sunflower wishes to go.

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.

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

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

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

He who kisses joy as it flies by will live in eternity's sunrise.

The person who does not believe in miracles surely makes it certain that he or she will never take part in one.

Make your own rules or be a slave to another man's.

And we are put on earth a little space, That we may learn to bear the beams of love.

Enlightenment means taking full responsibility for your life.

Do what you will this life's a fiction, And is made up of contradiction.

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.

Poetry, Painting & Music, the three Powers in man of conversing with Paradise, which the flood did not sweep away.

A good local pub has much in common with a church, except that a pub is warmer, and there's more conversation.

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

The pride of the peacock is the glory of God.

Love is weak when there is more doubt than there is trust, but love is most strong when you learn to trust even with all the doubts. If a thing loves, it is infinite.

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 & desires.

We are not meant to resolve all contradictions but to live with them and rise above them.

The thankful receiver bears a plentiful harvest.

Think in the morning. Act in the noon. Eat in the evening. Sleep in the night.

What is now proved was once only imagined.

To see a world in a grain of sand and a heaven in a wildflower.

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

Tyger! Tyger! burning bright In the forests of the night, What immortal hand or eye Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

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

You never know what is enough unless you know what is more than enough.

The world of imagination is the world of eternity. It is the divine bosom into which we shall all go after the death of the vegetated [i.e. mortal] body. This world of imagination is infinite and eternal, whereas the world of generation is finite and temporal. There exist in that eternal world the eternal realities of everything which we see reflected in this vegetable glass of nature.

This life's dim windows of the soul Distorts the heavens from pole to pole And leads you to believe a lie When you see with, not through, the eye.

He who desires, but acts not, breeds pestilence.

A robin redbreast in a cage Puts all heaven in a rage.

The bird a nest, the spider a web, man friendship.

Every harlot was a virgin once.

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

As a man is, so he sees.

Everything to be imagined is an image of truth.

The imagination is not a state: it is the human existence itself.

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?

To the eyes of the man of imagination, nature is imagination itself.

Fun I love, but too much fun is of all things the most loathsome. Mirth is better than fun, and happiness is better than mirth.

Some are born to sweet delight, Some are born to endless night.

I am in you and you in me, mutual in divine love.

The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom.

He who binds to himself a joy Does the winged life destroy; But he who kisses the joy as it flies Lives in eternity's sun rise.

The pride of the peacock is the glory of God. The lust of the goat is the bounty of God. The wrath of the lion is the wisdom of God. The nakedness of woman is the work of God.

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.

And did those feet in ancient time Walk upon England's mountains green? And was the holy Lamb of God On England's pleasant pastures seen?

Love to faults is always blind, always is to joy inclined. Lawless, winged, and unconfined, and breaks all chains from every mind.

The crow wished everything was black, the Owl, that everything was white.

Active Evil is better than Passive Good.